Hostage Alon Ohel faces potential blindness: Hostage testimonies expose dire health risks

Alon Ohel, still in Hamas captivity, is at risk of losing his eyesight due to an injury sustained while being held by his captors. Survivors who were released alongside Ohel have revealed to Kan Reshet Bet harrowing details about the conditions faced by those still in captivity, with many hostages suffering from physical injuries and medical neglect.

Information received from hostages who were with Alon Ohel indicates that Alon has a fragment in his eye, and he sees only shadows in one eye. Medical officials accompanying the family said that he could lose sight in both eyes, based on the testimonies received.

The families of the hostages who are expected to return in the second stage point to dramatic differences in the conditions of captivity, which raise concerns that the young men may die before returning. Hostages who were released said that in November 2023, after the agreement for the release of the hostages, they were lowered to the tunnels and cut off from all the media.

It also emerged that the hostages were split into smaller groups at the time, cut off from the outside world and the media, and shared one blanket. There were days when four hostages shared one pita, and they were tied up at all hours of the day for no reason.

"Now we know what their condition is, we know that they are alive and can be saved," the father of one of the hostages told Kan News, adding that "every additional day in captivity could lead to permanent disability or death. We must act to shorten the time in captivity and promote the second stage of the agreement."

Due to the picture that emerged from their medical and mental state and from the testimonies of what the survivors went through in captivity, senior officials in the Ministry of Health told Kan News last night that the hostages are in immediate danger of their lives and must be returned as soon as possible. "The situation in which they are starving, without food, without medical treatment, without daylight and under torture puts them in mortal danger."