Former hostage Judith Raanan said in an interview with the US-based network NewsNation on Wednesday that hospital staff cheered as Hamas brought them in.
Judith and her daughter Natalie were kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 from Kibbutz Nahal Oz. They live in the United States but had come to Israel to celebrate Judith's mother, Tamar's, 85th birthday.
Judith Raanan says nurses at a Gaza hospital celebrated her arrival after Hamas had taken her hostage Oct. 7. "They were all so happy that they came back with prey — with Israeli, Jewish prey."More: https://t.co/l2GTGWMoYA #VargasReports @EVargasTV pic.twitter.com/H7loizIr4q
— NewsNation (@NewsNation) March 13, 2024
In her first interview since her release, she described to the host the immediate moments after capture.
"The minute we came in, all the nurses were standing there and going like this [mimics ululation]."
"They were all so happy that they came back with prey, with Israeli, Jewish prey. Although I told them that I'm an American."
A little in shock, the interviewer asks, "The nurses were cheering?"
"Yeah," Judith answers, "There was a leader nurse. I think the others were afraid of her."
"I really don't think all of them were happy to see us. They are very much terrified because you have to understand that right now, they are surrounded by people with guns."
The interviewer notes that this disputes Hamas's claims that they do not operate inside hospitals.
"We were moved quite a few times," she says, describing the events after the hospital.
She also says that an Israeli rocket destroyed the building they were being kept in.
Sinwar's influence
In a later interview, the interviewer relayed to another guest that Judith had spoken with a Hamas official who spoke perfect Hebrew but that Judith was sure it was not Yahya Sinwar.
.@shlomieldar reacts to Hamas hostage Judith Raanan's account of hospital staff cheering when she was brought in. Eldar says most of the doctors and nurses in the hospitals where Hamas operates were appointed by the group.More: https://t.co/oMrssIgiWK #VargasReports pic.twitter.com/AYeBAfOMnV
— NewsNation (@NewsNation) March 14, 2024
Shlomi Eldar, an Israeli journalist, told the interviewer that hospital staff supporting Hamas should not be surprising because most of the doctors and nurses were appointed by Hamas.
He says this was because since 2014 and since 2018, efforts to control the population through "brainwashing" have been implemented. Eldar says this is largely due to Sinwar's influence.