All of the hostages released on Friday are reported to be in good condition and are expected to be ready to go home within the next few days.
Eight of the released hostages – four women and four children – arrived at Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Petah Tikva. Five women are being treated at Wolfson Medical Center in Holon and are receiving treatment according to the results of medical examinations on Friday, the ministry said.
“We’ve all anxiously awaited their return and we are elated to see the day they have come to us,” said Sefi Mendlovic, associate director of the Ministry of Health in a press conference at Schneider on Saturday.
Mendlovic said that the Health Ministry had begun preparations for the hostage return at the start of the war, which included building the medical and mental health environment that the released hostages would require on their return home.
Mendlovic said the preparation for their arrival included the collection and consolidation of all possible medical information about the returning hostages beforehand. He said a total of six Israeli hospitals, including Soroka Medical Center, Schneider Children’s Medical Center, Shamir Medical Center, and Wolfson Medical Center, took part in the mission and were prepared ahead of time to receive and treat the released hostages.
A complex event both medically and emotionally
“This is a complex event both medically and emotionally – for the hostages who have returned to Israel, for their families, [and] for the entire people of Israel,” he said.
Dr. Efrat Bron-Harlev, Schneider’s chief executive, noted that the hospital was receiving assistance from a medical team from neighboring Beilinson Hospital to treat the women.
The 11 released foreign workers arrived at Shamir Medical Center (Assaf Harofeh), the Health Ministry said. According to the Associated Press, four of the released Thais had not been known to be held captive by Hamas.