Hostage, 84, released from Hamas captivity in November to finally leave hospital
Elma Avraham, who arrived in Israel in critical condition, was nursed back to health at Soroka Medical Center, where a farewell ceremony is planned with staff who cared for her
Elma Avraham, an 84-year-old woman who was released after 50 days as a hostage in Hamas captivity, will finally leave the hospital where she has been recovering from her ordeal.
Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba announced Tuesday that Avraham will be released from its care the following day.
A ceremony is planned in which she will meet with the medical staff who helped save her life and nursed her back to health from the critical condition she was in when she was first set free, the hospital said in a statement.
Avraham was abducted from her home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz on October 7 during the devastating Hamas-led attack on Israel. She was held hostage in the Gaza Strip until she was eventually released on November 26 during a weeklong truce that saw the release of 105 hostages, mostly the elderly and children.
Avraham was flown by helicopter directly from Gaza to Soroka. When she arrived she was unconscious and hospitalized in the intensive care unit in life-threatening condition. According to her family, Avraham arrived at Soroka with a heart rate of 40 and a body temperature of 28°C (82.4°F).
At the time, Avraham’s children blasted the Red Cross for refusing to try to bring lifesaving medications to their mother while she was held hostage by Hamas terrorists.
Relatives of hostages privately tried to send some medications via a European Union aid shipment but there was never any confirmation that the packages reached the captives. Some of the medicines were later found at a Gaza hospital.
Also, beginning on January 17, medications were supposed to be supplied to the hostages in return for a large amount of medical supplies and other aid for Gazans.
As part of the deal, Israel demanded visual proof that the relevant medications reached each hostage. The Red Cross, which has been accused of shirking its responsibility to ensure medical care for the kidnapped Israelis, refused to be involved.
The international humanitarian organization has also not visited the hostages since they were kidnapped on October 7.
