Gaunt Hostages Raise Alarm for Fate of Those Still Captive

The emaciated condition of the three hostages released by Hamas last weekend is raising concerns about whether the remaining hostages can survive much longer in captivity. Those concerns have been amplified by new threats to the ceasefire agreement that might derail future releases. Coverage:

• The gaunt men released Saturday said they were held underground for more than a year, and the relative of one says he was not allowed to stand, move, and even speak without permission, reports the Wall Street Journal. A UN human rights official said the hostages "show signs of ill-treatment and severe malnourishment, reflecting very dire conditions," per Reuters.

• Two of the men were in captivity with 24-year-old Alon Ohel, and they said Ohel has not been treated for shrapnel in his leg and eye, and has been shackled throughout his captivity "It was not easy to hear," his mother, Idit Ohel, said on Israeli TV. "I must say that I even fainted." Her son is not due to be released until after the first six-week phase of releases is complete.
• The New York Times describes the conditions faced by the hostages still left, based on information given to families from Israeli officials: "Bound. Starved. Wounded. Tortured." Another mother, Sigi Cohen, says she has been told her son, Eliya Cohen, who was 26 when captured, has not received treatment for a gunshot wound to the leg and has been bound for nearly 500 days.
• Israeli media has quoted one anonymous hostage who has been released in recent weeks as describing their conditions, per the Times of Israel: The captors "kept me in chains inside a tunnel. The tunnel was dark and airless. … I could not walk or stand. Only close to my release did the terrorists remove the chains, and I learned to walk again."
• Hamas took 251 hostages on Oct. 7, 2023. After the latest releases, about 70 remain, though roughly half are believed to be dead, reports the AP.

(More Israeli hostages stories.)