Freed hostage Romi Gonen released from hospital: ‘Another step toward my freedom’
Gonen underwent two surgeries in her half-year in hospital, will return for another; says she has mixed feelings upon release, her heart is in Gaza with hostages
Michael Horovitz is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel
Former hostage Romi Gonen was discharged from the hospital on Thursday, after spending half a year there undergoing rehabilitation and two operations to treat a gunshot wound in her arm following her release from captivity in Gaza.
On Instagram, Gonen posted pictures of a gathering marking her release from Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv, saying that it marked “another step toward my freedom.”
Gonen wrote she had experienced a “not so simple period,” and that she felt mixed feelings regarding the moment of her release from the hospital.
“Suffering pain, undergoing operations, standing up and falling over again. Unfortunately, I am being released with the knowledge that I will soon return here for my third operation. I felt that I needed freedom and quiet. I felt that I must know what it is to be free and true. Not tied to anything, doing just what I want to do,” she wrote.
“The nation of Israel was with me for every moment, whether it was friends whom I met at rehabilitation or food that was brought all the time, or people who came to give seminars or volunteered with their dogs to put a smile on all our faces,” she continued.
“The hostages are still not with us, and my heart is with them in Gaza,” she wrote, adding that she prayed for the country to be united.
Emily Damari, who was released alongside Gonen, was in attendance at the discharge gathering at the hospital.
Gonen was kidnapped as she and her friends tried to escape the Hamas assault on the Nova rave in the desert on October 7, 2023. She was released as part of a ceasefire deal on January 19 this year.
Since returning, Gonen was treated for a gunshot wound to her right arm that she suffered during the Hamas attack, for which she never received proper treatment in captivity.
Palestinian terror groups are still holding 49 of the hostages who were abducted from southern Israel on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led terrorists burst into the country. The attack also killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, triggering the war. Hamas is also holding the body of an IDF soldier killed in Gaza in 2014.
Twenty of the hostages are believed to be alive, and there are grave concerns for the well-being of two others, Israeli officials have said.
The Times of Israel Community.