Dear Critic,

Thank you for the information - I read Danielle's original letter in Hebrew, which she wrote a day before being released. It was obviously written under coercion.

Talking about "sweets and fruit", the Israeli children who were returned yesterday were malnourished and will require a controlled diet for a while to recover. The adult women had even less to eat and lost between 8 and 15 kilograms each. That is muscle mass which is nearly impossible to regain in old age.

Meanwhile there are news of the conditions 12-year-old Eitan Yahalomi was subjected to:

When arriving in Gaza, all the civilians around beat him.
He was forced to watch a movie of the horrors and murders of October 7th, that movie which most adult members of parliament could not endure, ran out in tears and required tranquillisers.
When a child was crying, they threatened him with a gun to stop.

You may not be able to understand the article in Hebrew, but if you understand French then it includes an interview with Eitan's aunt: http://www.mako.co.il/news-military/6361323ddea5a810/Article-83713eda4d51c81026.htm?sCh=3d385dd2dd5d4110&pId=1898243326_518392

And if you understand Arabic, here is a clip of an investigation of a captured terrorist of Hamas' Nuhbah elite force, admitting that he received orders to rape a corpse: http://bshch.blogspot.com/2023/10/blog-post_8885.html

Dear Critic,

Elma Avraham's condition slightly improved.
She is still in ICU, but is now conscious and can breathe on her own.

It was also revealed that 12-year-old Eitan Yahalomi was kept for the first 16 days in solitary confinement.

"Elma Avraham's condition slightly improved."
- That's great news, I had a feeling she might make it through, I hope she does.
Older people don't need to be caught up in all this.
I can see the argument Hamas made in taking hostages to trade for their own people, but I can't can't see much purpose in dragging vulnerable elderly people off.

I don't really care which side we're talking about when it comes to the wellbeing of innocent people.
- The less people killed and injured the better.

I can probably see some level of justification in targeting IDF as they've done wrong to Palestinians and assisted settlers taking land.
Right to resist and all that;
- But can't see the benefit in raping female non-combatants or murdering unarmed civilians.

If all these things did happen, the only strategic purpose would be to enrage the Israelis and bait them into sending troops into Gaza, unless of course they really are just enraged animals committing atrocities.

I could see Hamas wanting to establish some authority in being the only serious group willing to do things that might change the situation, PA don't seem serious, but I can't see the purpose in the government (Hamas) committing such heinous atrocities, I don't see how chopping people up and raping corpses would gain them any support, but hey I don't understand the mind of a radical Islamist.

I honestly think the hardliners on both sides probably have to go.
Didn't an Israeli settler show how far they were willing to go when they assassinated more moderate Yitzhak Rabin?

I have a far better feel for what's true and what isn't in Russia / Ukraine war.
It's near on impossible to tell who's telling the truth and who's lying.
Both sides will claim the other's lying.
Video evidence is a better indicator than unproven claims.

Freed Palestinian prisoners report physical abuse in Israeli jails | Al Jazeera Newsfeed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tayiQ0d9mz8

This whole entire ongoing cycle of violence needs to stop.
With both sides being run by hardliners it's hard to see how that can occur.

These are the major victims of Hamas:

"Many Gazans were hostile to Hamas before the group’s brutal October 7 attack on Israel, with some describing its rule as a second occupation, according to rare polling data analyzed by a US-Palestinian researcher.

The findings are striking against a backdrop of protests and counter-protests triggered by the attack, with the relationship between Hamas and ordinary Gazans often the subject of heated debate.

“We find in our surveys that 67 per cent of Palestinians in Gaza had little or no trust in Hamas in that period right before the attacks,” said Amaney Jamal, dean of Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs. "

"
"Perhaps the world should have said " "Enough. This must stop now!" BEFORE they started beheading babies."
Posted by mhaze, Saturday, 14 October 2023 10:09:08 AM"

Thanks for pointing that out SR. See that's how its done. No mention of 40 babies, because that was unverified. But mention of beheadings because that WAS verified.

If you keep scrounging through my old posts, SR, you might yet learn something.

Hi Yuyutsu,

"Talking about "sweets and fruit", the Israeli children who were returned yesterday were malnourished and will require a controlled diet for a while to recover. The adult women had even less to eat and lost between 8 and 15 kilograms each. That is muscle mass which is nearly impossible to regain in old age."

You don't say!

And Palestinian women and children, are growing fat while Israel denies them basic food rations and medical supplies, in what's been a 50 day forced calorie controlled diet. Fortunately, there is just now some relief as Israel allows more truck loads of aid into Gaza. A common tactic used by both Nazi's and Zionists, starve people into submission. p/s I don't think Hamas would have fattened up the hostages, but fed them no better than what the average Palestinian was receiving.

http://www.madamasr.com/en/2023/11/28/feature/politics/gaza-siege-years-of-starvation/