Health Ministry says released hostages suffering severe malnutrition, lost significant weight in Hamas captivity

The Health Ministry says that the three hostages who were freed from Gaza this morning are suffering from severe malnutrition and lost significant body weight during their 491 days in captivity, after initial medical checks in the hours following their release.

“These are difficult scenes,” Health Ministry representative Dr. Hagar Mizrahi says in a press conference from Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, where two of the released hostages are beginning their recovery.

The three hostages freed by Hamas this morning — Eli Sharabi, 52, Or Levy, 34, and Ohad Ben Ami, 56 — looked gaunt and unsteady on their feet as they were released by the terror group, 16 months after they were kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri and the Nova music festival.

But doctors were also “excited to see them walking on their own two feet, upright and proud,” the Health Ministry representative adds.

Mizrahi says that staff is also treating the families of released hostages, many of whom were so busy fighting for their loved ones’ release that they didn’t have time to care for themselves over the past 15 months.

The returned hostages and their families will receive a wide range of therapies, designed to address both their physical and emotional needs, says Mizrahi, the head of the General Medicine Division at the Health Ministry.