As freed Israeli hostages and their families began to speak about their captivity inside terrorist-controlled Gaza, horrific details of atrocities and abuse are coming to light. On Tuesday, the Israeli Health Ministry confirmed that Hamas terrorists drugged hostages, including children, to make them appear calm and happy before international media during their televised release.
“Hamas drugged hostages with tranquiliser pills before handing them over to the Red Cross for release, an Israeli health official has claimed. Dr. Hagar Mizrahi, told the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, that the hostages were given drugs before they were handed over to the aid group,” the British newspaper Telegraph reported Tuesday. “Last week, the uncle of two Israeli boys released by Hamas said following their release: ‘They were drugged, they were treated so bad, but at least they are with us.'”
The drugging of children to make them look happy during their televised release is a sick attempt to bolster the image of Hamas terrorists as the U.S. and Western allies pressure Israel to scale down its counter-terrorism operation in Gaza in response to the October 7 massacre.
The Times of Israel reported the disturbing new details:
A Health Ministry representative tells the Knesset Health Committee that the hostages freed from Hamas captivity were given tranquilizer pills before being handed over to the Red Cross for transfer to Israel. The drugging would have aimed to make the hostages appear calm, happy and upbeat after suffering physical abuse, deprivation and psychological terror for more than 50 days in Gaza.Dr. Hagar Mizrahi, head of the Health Ministry’s medical division, specifically names the drug Clonazepam. Known as Clonex in Israel and sold under the brand names Klonopin and Rivotril elsewhere, the drug is used to prevent and treat anxiety disorders, seizures, bipolar mania, agitation associated with psychosis, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.The ministry representative does not disclose whether the drugging has been confirmed by blood tests done on the released hostages at Israeli hospitals, or from the freed hostages’ testimony, or both.Families of hostages speaking earlier to the committee were the first to raise the issue.Shas MK Yonatan Mashriki urges the Health Ministry to send health organizations around the world an official report detailing the evidence of the drugging and other medical findings following the released hostages’ return.
The latest news follows other harrowing revelations about Hamas’s atrocities against helpless child hostages. During the October 7 massacre, Hamas terrorists branded the legs of kidnapped Israeli children with heated motorcycle exhaust pipes for identification, the families of the released hostages recently disclosed.
“On October 7, Hamas terrorists kidnapped children on motorcycles and were trained to create a specific sign on their bodies: they put one of the children’s legs in the motorcycle exhaust,” the Jerusalem Post reported Friday.
After eliminating and flushing out Hamas terrorists from northern Gaza, the IDF has encircled the Hamas stronghold of Jabaliya in the southern part of the terrorist-infested territory.
“The IDF expanded its ground operation in the Palestinian enclave since the end of the ceasefire,” the i24NEWS reported Tuesday. “The IDF is operating ‘in the heart of’ Hamas dens in Khan Yunis, Jabaliya in southern Gaza, the military said on Tuesday.”
The destruction of terrorists and their infrastructure in Jabaliya is central to Israel’s war aim of ridding Gaza of Hamas. After the fall of key terrorist strongholds in the north, leading Hamas commanders, including Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, have reportedly fled to Jabaliya.
“IDF troops are operating in the area of Jabalya, after completing the encirclement of the Jabalya camp. Over the past day, IDF troops operated in Hamas strongholds and destroyed terrorist infrastructure in the area,” the IDF said in a statement on Tuesday morning. “The troops struck terrorist infrastructure, located weapons and launchers in civilian compounds, and directed aerial forces to strike numerous terrorists.”
Israeli broadcaster Arutz Sheva reported the ongoing operation in southern Gaza:
Earlier on Tuesday, the IDF conducted a targeted raid on a Hamas Internal Security Forces command and control center in Jabalya, where they located observation and control materials, weapons, and maps.IDF troops also operated in Hamas strongholds and destroyed terrorist infrastructure in the area, taking control of key military posts from which attacks on IDF troops have been carried out.The troops struck terrorist infrastructure, located weapons and launchers in civilian compounds, and directed aerial forces to strike numerous terrorists.
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