Israeli captives released from Gaza were not exposed to torture, ill-treatment: Israeli media

JERUSALEM (AA) – The Israeli captives released from Gaza were not exposed to torture or ill-treatment by the Palestinian groups, Israeli media reported on Monday.

The Israeli Channel 12 said it met with a number of relatives of the Israeli captives released by Hamas in Gaza who confirmed that they were not exposed to any form of torture or bad treatment.

The channel, however, said the captives received limited quantities of food.

“In the past two weeks, Gaza almost ran out of food items, so they had to settle with rice in small quantities, and they were very hungry,” the channel reported.

Israel has not allowed the released captives to speak with the media. However, some of their relatives spoke with the media without mentioning their names.

The captives in Gaza were allowed to listen to Israeli radio channels.

An Israeli doctor who examined the released captives said they depended on rice, chickpeas, beans, and bread, adding that some of them had lost weight.

“One of the captives lost 20 kilograms of weight, one lost 9 kilograms and another lost 12 kilograms,” the doctor said.

Qatar on Monday announced the extension of the truce by two days.

Israel launched a massive military campaign in the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7.

It has since killed at least 14,854 Palestinians, including 6,150 children and over 4,000 women, according to health authorities in the enclave. The official Israeli death toll stands at 1,200.