B.C. woman’s aunt among hostages recently released by Hamas

Rutie Mizrahi is breathing a small sigh of relief after her aunt was among the two hostages most recently released by Hamas in Israel.

Mizrahi, a Canadian-Israeli living in Vancouver, says she found out her aunt had been released through messages in a family group chat and a phone call from her ex-husband — although she still remains deeply worried about her uncle who remains in captivity.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ Listen to CityNews 1130 LIVE now!

Her aunt, Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, was released alongside Nurit Cooper, 79, according a report by the Associated Press. However, the whereabouts and wellbeing of Lifshitz’s husband, remain unaccounted for.

Mizrahi says her aunt and uncle built the kibbutz of Nir Oz when they were about 19-years-old and have lived there ever since. On Oct. 7, their community was attacked by the Hamas and many of its residents were taken hostage.

---

---

When she first found out about the conflict by watching an Israeli news channel, Mizrahi says she couldn’t believe the destruction she was seeing.

“I could not believe all the horror and horrible things that actually happened there,” she said. “It was towards the evening that I got the news they were considered kidnapped. And we found out their phone was somewhere in the Gaza Strip. So we did not know anything about their situation or any information.”

While Mizrahi says she’s anticipating speaking to her aunt, she says she recently learned her aunt and uncle were separated by their kidnappers so she expects her aunt won’t have any information on her uncle’s whereabouts.

However, it’s not just her own family that Mizrahi says she’s thinking about right now.

“Let’s not forget that other than my uncle, there are around 200 other hostages. Some of them are kids, elderly people, women, babies and we do not know anything about their situation,” she said. “Clearly there are some kids there that their parents and other loved ones were murdered. And we do not know anything about their condition.”

She says many people who have been affected by this conflict, like her aunt and uncle, are very peaceful people.

“This was just a massacre of innocent people and most of these people are actually people like my aunt and uncle, who always fought for the rights of minorities,” she said.

“My uncle used to drive sick people, mostly people with cancer, from the Gaza Strip to the hospitals, wait for them, and bring them back. He volunteered to do it. Nobody asked him or paid him for it.”

As a teenager, Mizrahi says she has fond memories of spending holidays with her aunt and uncle, who she describes as the “sweetest people.”

“Both of them are very creative, artistic. She’s a photographer. He’s a musician. They’re very artistic, very positive, very happy people and honestly, they always look for the best in any situation.”

Mizrahi says she’s only seen videos of her aunt since she was released, but she’s excited for the phone call they’ll have once her aunt has had a chance to rest.

“I can’t wait for it.”

Speaking outside of the hospital after her release, Lifshitz spoke of a “hell that we never knew before and never thought we would experience” as she described the harrowing Oct. 7 assault on her kibbutz by Hamas militants and the terror of being taken hostage into the Gaza Strip.

Lifshitz was the first of the four hostages released so far to speak of their experience, from the initial attack through the more than two weeks of captivity.

“Masses swarmed our houses, beat people, and some were taken hostage,” said Lifshitz, speaking softly from a wheelchair as she briefed reporters on Tuesday at Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital, a day after Hamas released her and 79-year-old Nurit Cooper. “They didn’t care if they were young or old.”

Lifshitz’s captors hustled her onto a motorcycle, removed her watch and jewelry and beat her with sticks, bruising her ribs and making it difficult to breathe, she said.

Once in Gaza, she walked several kilometers to a network of tunnels that she described as “looking like a spider web.” She reached a large room where 25 people had been taken but was later separated into a smaller group with four others.

The people assigned to guard her “told us they are people who believe in the Quran and wouldn’t hurt us.”

Lifshitz said captives were treated well and received medical care, including medication. The guards kept conditions clean, she said. Hostages were given one meal a day of cheese, cucumber and pita, she said, adding that her captors ate the same.

Lifshitz and her husband were peace activists who regularly drove Palestinian patients from Gaza to receive medical treatment in Israeli hospitals. But in captivity, the hostages told their captors, “We don’t want to talk about politics,” she said.

-With files from Raynaldo Suarez and The Associated Press