A Londoner has spoken of her relief after her 85-year-old mother was released from Gaza by Hamas.
Yocheved Lifshitz was released alongside Nurit Cooper and handed over to the Red Cross at the Rafah crossing, on the border with Egypt, on Monday evening. They are expected to be transferred shortly to Israel.
Sharone Lifschitz, who lives in Walthamstow, told the BBC she had visited her mother in hospital in Israel and she "seemed OK".
"The nurses are just having a chat, they say she is very sharp and is very keen to share the information, pass on the information to families of other hostages that she was with.
"To see my mum again is an incredible thing. To hold her hand, just to kiss her face, and her cheek, and I'm so proud of her, she's amazing.
“While I cannot put into words the relief that she is now safe, I will remain focused on securing the release of my father and all those, some 200 innocent people, who remain hostages in Gaza.”
The two elderly women and their husbands were taken from their homes in the kibbutz of Nir Oz near the Gaza border during Hamas’s October 7 rampage into southern Israeli communities.
Their husbands have not been released.
Hamas said it had released the two women for humanitarian reasons, days after freeing an American woman and her teenage daughter.
Sharone had last week told the Standard that she feared the worst for her parents, particularly her mother who uses an oxygen tank when she sleeps.
Her father, 83, awoke to the sounds of rockets over their kibbutz, Nir Oz, near the border with Gaza on Saturday morning, October 7.
Her father rang family members to warn them that he could hear gunmen shooting and yelling outside, and it’s believed shortly afterwards they broke into the family home where Mrs Lifschitz grew up.
Mrs Lifschitz lost contact with her parents after that.
The United States has advised Tel Aviv to delay an expected ground invasion to allow time to negotiate the release of more hostages taken by Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.
The release comes after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said British intelligence had concluded that Israel was unlikely to have been responsible for a hospital blast that is thought to have killed hundreds of people in Gaza City.
Experts had been assessing the cause of the al Ahli atrocity since it happened on October 17, with Mr Sunak saying during his trip to the Middle East last week that the available evidence was still being reviewed.
But, in an update to MPs on Monday, he said the UK Government had judged that it was “likely caused by a missile, or part of one, that was launched from within Gaza towards Israel”.
The explosion provoked condemnation around the world as well as rival claims about who was to blame.
Israel and Hamas both issued competing versions of events regarding the cause of the blast, with the Palestinian militant group blaming an Israeli airstrike.
The Israeli military blamed a misfiring rocket from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group and released imagery and communications intercepts it said supported its case.
US President Joe Biden, during his visit in Tel Aviv, had sided with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government’s assessment of the tragedy.
Mr Sunak, who travelled to Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt last week, hit out at the “misreporting” of the incident, which he said had a “negative effect in the region, including on a vital US diplomatic effort and on tensions here at home”.
In comments cheered by parliamentarians, he said: “We need to learn the lessons and ensure that in future there is no rush to judgment.”
The Prime Minister also used the statement to confirm that the Government will provide an additional £20 million of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza
A spokeswoman for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said: “We welcome the release of a further two hostages this evening.
“Our thoughts remain with the families of loved ones still being held captive, as they endure unimaginable anguish and worry at this time.
“We will continue to work tirelessly with Qatar, Israel and others to ensure all hostages come home safely."
