The director of Tel Aviv's psychiatric service that treats Israeli hostages released by Hamas says that in 20 years of treating trauma victims, she has “never seen anything like this.”
“Whether physical, sexual, mental or psychological, the abuse that the returnees have suffered is simply terrible,” says Renana Eitan of the Sourasky-Ichilov Hospital Center.
Of the approximately 240 hostages forcibly taken to Gaza during the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 114 – Israelis or dual citizens – have been released, 14 of whom are being treated at this hospital.
Some say they were drugged and doctors believe their captors made them take benzodiazepines, drugs that slow brain activity and have a sedative effect.
“It is sometimes difficult to deal with young children or teenagers, and they knew that giving drugs would silence them,” explains Renana Eitan.
“One little girl was even given ketamine for several weeks,” a powerful narcotic that causes a dissociative effect between the body and mind. “Doing something like that to a child is unthinkable,” she says indignantly.
Former hostages continue to suffer from dissociative states: “They know they are here in the medical center, and the next moment they think they are back with Hamas.”
Their captors subjected some hostages to psychological pressure, such as making one of them believe his wife was dead even though she was still living in Israel.
Minors were separated from their families and forced to watch very violent videos. One woman said she was held in complete darkness with other people for four days.
“They became psychotic and had hallucinations,” Ms. Eitan explains.
There are reports of self-harm and some returnees have suicidal thoughts. “But that’s our mission: to make sure something like this doesn’t happen,” she says.
137 hostages are still in the hands of Hamas.