Dr. Efrat Bron-Harlev, the CEO of Schneider Children’s Hospital, held a press conference on Monday about the captives released from captivity in Gaza who were treated at the hospital. She said that when she met the children after being transferred from the Red Cross, “they looked like shadows of children.” She added that the children spoke in whispers and asked permission for the smallest things, even to open a door or leave the room. She said that the Hamas terrorists engaged in psychological terrorism, telling the children or teens who were held alone over and over that no one cared about them in Israel or wanted them to return. She added that the children related unfathomable stories. Dr. Yael Mozer-Glassberg, the director of Israel’s pediatric liver transplantation service at Schneider Children’s Medical Center, also treated the children and women who were released from captivity Mozer-Glassberg said that the hostages brought to Schneider lost 10-15% of their body weight. She said that they were given little food on one hand but on the other hand, the terrorists at times engaged in psychological terrorism by forcing them to eat food they didn’t want. She added that the team had prepared to help prevent the hostages from eating too much when they returned but instead, they ate very little, with some only eating crumbs. Additionally, hygiene in captivity was almost non-existent, with most hostages returning with rashes, terrible cases of lice, and infected wounds. Dr. Moshe Ashkenazi, the director at Safra Children’s Hospital at Sheba Medical Center spoke to i24News about the children treated at Safra, including the fact that some of the children who returned from captivity had to be informed that one or both of their parents were murdered or abducted on October 7th. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)