“In some instances, kids had been taken moments after watching their mother and father being brutally murdered,” mentioned Dr. Zion Hagai, chairman of the Israel Medical Affiliation. “They aren’t solely pressured to reside with this trauma however to expertise it in an odd, darkish and scary place.”
Audio system highlighted the instances of a number of notably susceptible hostages, amongst them Raz Ben Ami, 57, from the Be’eri kibbutz, who was being handled for neurosarcoidosis, a critical and uncommon illness that impacts the mind, spinal twine or peripheral nerves, inflicting listening to and imaginative and prescient loss, confusion, agitation and different results.
Dr. Arnon Elizur spoke of a younger affected person, Yagil Yaakov, who has a life-threatening peanut allergy and will die in minutes if he had been uncovered to even hint quantities of peanut powder. Islamic Jihad, one other militant group within the Gaza Strip, not too long ago printed a video of the boy, trying pale and skinny, with darkish shadows below his eyes.
“I can’t think about what goes by means of his thoughts when he’s served meals,” Dr. Elizur mentioned. “Can he be sure it doesn’t comprise hint quantities of peanuts? Each meal for him is like taking part in Russian roulette.”
The son of one other hostage, Haim Peri, mentioned that his father had superior coronary heart illness.
“He’s an artist, a peace activist and a person who all the time fought for human rights,” mentioned the son, Noam Peri. “He’s a courageous man, however at age 80, he isn’t a wholesome man, and requires day by day drugs. He won’t survive captivity for lengthy.”
