From the Liveblog of
Thursday, November 30, 2023
Hospital says freed hostage Maya Regev who was shot in leg will need further operations
Renee Ghert-Zand is the health reporter and a feature writer for The Times of Israel.
Soroka Medical Center in Beersheva shares an update on the three released hostages it is treating: Maya Regev, Itay Regev, and Elma Avraham.
Itay Regev, 18, was released by Hamas late last night and brought to Soroka to be reunited with his sister Maya, 21, who was freed on Sunday. The siblings were seized by terrorists at the Supernova music festival near Re’im on October 7. As they tried to escape, Maya called her father screaming that she had been shot and that the terrorists were trying to kill them.
While the former hostages are being treated at a handful of medical centers, Israel’s policy is to hospitalize family members together. All the hostages receive full medical and psychosocial support from specially trained staff in designated areas of the hospitals to protect their privacy.
“Upon his arrival at Soroka, Itay underwent a medical evaluation to assess his condition. In parallel, he had a very emotional reunion with his parents, younger brother, and his sister Maya. Itay’s physical condition is good,” says Dr. Dan Schwartzfox, deputy director-general of Soroka Medical Center.
Maya arrived at Soroka with a complex gunshot wound to her leg. Upon her return to Israel, she underwent surgery to stabilize a fracture and is expected to have to go undergo more operations.
“We expect a considerable rehabilitation process for her,” Schwartzfox says.
An update is also given on Elma Avraham, 84, who was released from captivity and brought to Soroka on Sunday night in life-threatening condition with all of her vital signs “extremely low” and was put on a ventilator.
Her daughter, Tali Amano, laid into the Red Cross for neglecting her mother while in captivity and refusing to bring her the medications she takes for a variety of health conditions.
Still in Soroka’s intensive care unit, Avraham has since been taken off the ventilator and is conscious.
“We are doing everything we can to advance her recovery,” says Schwartzfox.
The Times of Israel Community.