Israel hostages in Gaza: We have evidence their health worsening, say families

Hostages' families held a rally at the weekend calling for the remaining people held captive to be released

Families of people being held captive in Gaza say they have "solid intelligence" that the health of several hostages has deteriorated.

Some are "now in immediate danger", the group of hostages' families said in a letter to Israel's war cabinet.

Pressure has been growing on officials over the 138 people still being held by Hamas and other armed groups.

Some of the freed hostages met Israel's leaders on Tuesday in a meeting that witnesses say turned rowdy.

Israel has repeatedly pledged to do everything it can to rescue the remaining hostages. Some 110 hostages have been released in total - but a week-long truce under which dozens were freed ended last week and since then Israel has resumed its bombing of Gaza.

In a letter sent to the war cabinet, the Hostages Families HQ group said: "We have received solid intelligence that there are abductees whose condition has deteriorated and are now in immediate danger."

They said at least one-third of the hostages were suffering from underlying illnesses and needed regular medical treatment - and going without such treatment was dangerous.

Many abductees were also suffering from injuries from the 7 October attack - such as gunshot wounds or amputations - while some were tortured and abused, the group added.

"Based on this data, we demand that you act urgently, with initiative and creativity to obtain a deal for the immediate release of all the abductees - for them every additional day in captivity is a real danger to their lives," it said.

It is thought the evidence they cite has come from the newly-released hostages, who on Tuesday evening held a meeting with Israel's prime minister and war cabinet and described what they saw during their captivity.

Observers say the meeting turned tense and disorganised - with some accusing the government of putting politics before the wellbeing of their loved-ones.

According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, one former hostage - Israeli nurse Nili Margalit - told the meeting she had been looking after some of the elderly people being held captive, and that they suffered from heart disease, kidney failure and Parkinson's.

"They lie on mattresses all day long. I don't know how they manage since I left," she said.

• Stories of the hostages taken by Hamas from Israel

• Who are the released hostages?

Another former hostage said she was scared by the bombing in Gaza, Haaretz reported.

"I see [Israeli] bombings there, and you have no idea where the captives are. I was in a house surrounded by explosions. We slept in tunnels, and we feared not Hamas, but Israel might kill us, and then it would have been said, 'Hamas killed you,'" she said.

In an audio recording from the meeting, obtained by Israeli news site Ynet, another unnamed former hostage whose husband is still in captivity said she saw an 85-year-old Israeli man killed.

"I saw Aryeh Zalmanovich die in front of me," she said. "And is that what you have to say, that you want to bring down the Hamas regime? That you want to show them who has bigger balls?"

Applause could be heard in the auditorium at the woman's outburst.

In the recording, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can be heard telling the families that there was "no possibility right now of bringing everyone home".

Haaretz also quoted Mr Netanyahu as saying: "We couldn't bring them all at once. If we could have done it, we would have."

He said that the reports of hostages' hearing Israel Defense Forces (IDF) bombings while in captivity "pierces the heart. It not only pierces the heart, but as you'll surely understand, it also affects our operational considerations".

And he repeated Israel's pledge to rescue all hostages, saying: "Our responsibility is to bring them all back. We'll fulfil this responsibility and bring them home."

IDF spokesman Rear Adm Daniel Hagari repeated the pledge, saying: "As the IDF expands its operations to dismantle Hamas in Gaza, we have not lost sight, not for one moment, of our critical mission to rescue our hostages, to do everything in our power to bring our hostages home."

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