In a haunting display of human cruelty, three Israeli hostages emerged from 491 days of Hamas captivity on Saturday as mere shadows of the men they once were - their gaunt faces and hollow eyes telling a story more devastating than words could capture.
Eli Sharabi, Or Levy, and Ohad Ben-Ami arrived at Israeli hospitals looking like "concentration camp survivors," their bodies ravaged by starvation, having lost a staggering 30% of their body weight. The transformation was so profound that their own families barely recognized them. "Like a skeleton," whispered Ben-Ami's mother through tears, looking at the man who had left his home as a robust father and returned appearing aged beyond his years.
Sharabi's British in-laws were also struck by his drastically diminished frame.
The brutal reality of their captivity was written on their bodies: severe malnutrition that doctors warn may have caused permanent damage to their organs, muscle wastage so severe that Ben-Ami could barely walk, their once-healthy frames diminished to frail outlines of their former selves. Medical staff at Sheba Medical Center were visibly shaken by their condition, noting it was worse than any they'd seen in previously released hostages.
In a final act of cruelty before their release, Hamas forced these desperately ill men to stand on a stage for propaganda purposes - their emaciated bodies and pale, drawn faces a testament to the inhumanity they endured. Even in their weakened state, they were made to perform for their captors one last time, in what Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemned as a "crime against humanity."
