News

Oct 7 Hamas terror attacks: Hostages taken to Gaza suffered 'three distinct traumas all coming down'

Israeli women and children on their return from Hamas captivity in Gaza speak of being beaten and threatened with death, moved from place to place and forced to whisper during weeks spent with little to do, their families say. Most hostages released during a six-day-old truce have been rushed to hospitals out of sight in a country still reeling from the shock of their abduction during a Hamas rampage on Oct. 7 in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed. Danny Brom, director of METIV: The Israel Psychotrauma Center, said some will need medical treatment but others will not. Many will need to talk, and "the main issue that needs to be restored is a sense of control," he said. "People coming through horrific things are not sick," Brom said. "They need to cope with it, they need to get space, time and a warm environment in order to do that, but not necessarily in a medical setting." Since the latest round of releases began on Friday, with Israel releasing some jailed Palestinians in exchange, the freed hostages have been kept away from the media. Their stories have come out through the filter of family members, without independent verification, offering a hint of their ordeal. Most of the 240 hostages that Israel says were seized on Oct. 7 are still in captivity. For more on the harrowing plight of the Israeli victims taken hostage by Hamas, FRANCE 24's Angela Diffley is joined by Dr. Jonathan M. Metzl, award-winning author, acclaimed physician, the Frederick B. Rentschler II Professor of Sociology and Psychiatry and the director of the Department of Medicine, Health, and Society, at Vanderbilt University.