‘Starved, emaciated, pained’: Israel shocked at sight of freed hostages

Israeli president accuses Hamas of a crime against humanity as the families of Or Levy, Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi react in horror at the men’s frailty after they were paraded on stage by their captors.

Hamas has released three more hostages under a three-week-old ceasefire deal that has become a test of wills between the militant group and Israel.

The group freed Or Levy, 34, who was taken from the Nova music festival 16 months ago, and Ohad Ben Ami, 56, and Eli Sharabi, 52, who were kidnapped from their homes in Kibbutz Be’eri near the Gaza border. Israel is to reciprocate by releasing 183 Palestinian prisoners later in the day.

Top row, left to right: Released hostages Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami seen on a stage set up by Hamas in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, before the terror group handed them over to the Red Cross, February 8, 2025. Bottom row, the three Israelis as pictured before they were abducted.Picture: AFP.

However unlike previous hostage releases, where captives appeared relatively healthy and showed delight at their freedom, the three men looked gaunt and haunted as they gazed out from the stage where they were paraded in front of Hamas militants before they were handed over to the Red Cross.

“He looks really, really terrible. It’s really sad for me to see him like that,” Ben Ami’s mother-in-law, Michal Cohen, told Israeli television as she saw the first images of him on a stage Hamas had set up for the handover. Other family members cried on camera, saying the men looked frail.

Released hostage Eli Sharabi reunites with his mother Chana and sister Osnat at an army facility near the Gaza border after 491 days in Hamas captivity, January 8, 2025. Picture: IDF.

e Ohad Ben Ami reunites with his wife Raz and brother Kobi at an army facility near the Gaza border after 491 days in Hamas captivity, as they make a video call to his three daughters, February 8, 2025. Picture: IDF.

Israel President Isaac Herzog described the men’s treatment as a “crime against humanity” after they were paraded on stage during their handover.

“This is what a crime against humanity looks like! The whole world must look directly at Ohad, Or, and Eli – returning after 491 days of hell, starved, emaciated and pained – being exploited in a cynical and cruel spectacle by vile murderers,” Mr Herzog said in a statement on X.

This is what a crime against humanity looks like!
The whole world must look directly at Ohad, Or, and Eli—returning after 491 days of hell, starved, emaciated and pained—being exploited in a cynical and cruel spectacle by vile murderers. We take solace in the fact that they are…

— יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) February 8, 2025

Israeli hospitals were on standby to receive the three men, who had been held since being taken during the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack that left 1,200 dead and spurred the war in Gaza.

“He’s certainly returning another person,” Levy’s brother Tal told Israel television shortly before his release.

Both Sharabi and Levy lost family members during the initial Hamas attack. Sharabi’s neighbours from Be’eri wondered whether he exited captivity knowing that his wife and two daughters are dead. Levy’s wife was also killed, leaving their young son in the care of family over the past year.

Before their release, the men were forced to partake in a choreographed piece of propaganda, paraded on stage and forced to hold certificates as they were surrounded by armed, masked militants. The men looked emaciated and frail as they stared out at the militants lined up in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza.

They were also subjected to “interviews” with Hamas television, in which they said they had been taken care of by their captors.

Before they were taken on stage, members of the Red Cross sat at a table to sign what appeared to be release documents, with a masked militant counter-signing the documents.

A member of the Red Cross team signs documents before Palestinian Hamas fighters hand over three Israeli hostages in Deir el-Balah. Picture: AFP.

Amid shock at their appearance, the October Council, representing families directly affected by the October 7 massacre, said the images of the three men “echo photographs of Holocaust survivors, and serve as a further reminder of the worst failure in the history of the state, and the need to investigate it fully.”

Or Levy, Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi are paraded on stage before being handed to the Red Cross. Picture: X.

Jubilant crowds in Tel Aviv cheered as they watched live footage of the hostages taken on stage then passed to the Red Cross. The men’s families could be seen weeping as they watched the handover on TV screens from Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement the country “embraces the three returnees”.

“We will not go into the agenda about the shocking sights we saw today”, the statement said. “The government, together with all security agencies, will accompany them and their families.”

The Red Cross Convoy at the Site of the Hostage Exchange in Central Gaza, awaiting the normal theatrics by Hamas prior to the release of a Hostage. pic.twitter.com/rRLgDAFWtU

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) February 8, 2025

Soon after the stage show, the Israeli Defence Forces said in a statement: “The 3 returning hostages are currently being accompanied by IDF and ISA forces on their return to Israeli territory, where they will undergo an initial medical assessment. The IDF salutes and embraces the returning hostages as they make their way home to the State of Israel”.

Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) have once again begun preparations for today’s release of Three Hostages from the Gaza Strip, with Terrorists seen gathering in the Deir al-Balah Camp in Central Gaza, where a Stage has been constructed. pic.twitter.com/Ck0ySxa30Y

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) February 8, 2025

The choreography of the hostages-for-prisoners swap hit a snag Friday evening, when Hamas was hours late turning over the names of those who would be released this weekend amid a dispute about the flow of humanitarian goods into Gaza.

Hamas complained Israel has failed to meet commitments to allow mobile homes, tents, fuel and construction equipment to be brought into the enclave, where many buildings have been flattened and most of the population of around two million has been displaced and is living in makeshift shelters.

Palestinian Hamas fighters escort Eli Sharabi on a stage before handing him over to a Red Cross team in Deir el-Balah. Picture: AFP.

More broadly, the US-designated terrorist group has used the releases to assert that it retains power over the Gaza Strip with elaborately arranged events featuring stages where hostages sign papers and wave to crowds that include dozens of armed militants.

Hamas’s stage Saturday in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah held a banner that read “total victory” in Hebrew over an image of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a sarcastic reference to the Israeli leader’s wartime slogan. Another banner touted Hamas’s continuing control over the enclave, stating, “We are the day after,” adopting the phrase Israeli officials use when debating how the Gaza Strip should be governed after the war. Netanyahu’s government has come under criticism internally and externally for failing to present a plan for governing Gaza that would supplant Hamas.

Today’s Stage within the Deir al-Balah Camp in Central Gaza, where the Hostage Exchange with the Red Cross will soon occur. pic.twitter.com/4f23AOAxhO

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) February 8, 2025

Israel has complained about the way Hamas has handled the handovers. A fresh test for the agreement is likely to come Sunday, when Israel is expected to complete its withdrawal from the Netzarim corridor, an area of land bisecting the strip.

Yet while both sides have repeatedly accused each other of violating the terms of the deal, the exchanges of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners have continued without either side pulling out.

Ohad Ben Ami on stage with his captors. Picture: AFP.

Saturday’s exchange is the fifth wave of releases under Israel and Hamas’s current ceasefire. Negotiations to extend the agreement into a second phase and discussions about a permanent end to the conflict were expected to begin this past week but have yet to get under way. Netanyahu – who discussed the deal with the White House during his continuing trip to Washington – has said he would send a delegation at the week’s end.

More than 70 hostages remain in Gaza, with more than 30 of them dead, according to Israel. Families of hostages continue to campaign for their release in weekly protests attempting to put pressure on all sides to free their loved ones and for the ceasefire to hold.

With Dow Jones Newswires