A British psychotherapist whose elderly mother is being held hostage by Hamas has said the recent release of another Briton’s mother gives him “some hope” for the future.
Noam Sagi’s 75-year-old mother Ada was taken hostage after the militant group entered Kibbutz Nir Oz near the border with Gaza on October 7.
Speaking after a press conference at the Israeli embassy in London on Tuesday, he described the release of UK-based Sharon Lifschitz’s mother Yocheved as the “best bit of news” he has had since the invasion.
He said: “She is a very, very dear friend and a close member of the community where I grew up.
“I am intensely happy. It is the best bit of news that I have had since all this started.
“I am very, very happy that she is back in safe hands. It gives me hope of course.
“It is a paradoxical situation, we are speaking about crimes against humanity but we are expecting humanity to prevail.”
Ofri Bibas Levy, whose brother Jordan, his wife Shiri, their four-year-old old son Ariel and nine-month-old baby boy Kfir were taken hostage, told reporters the releases are “like torture”.
She said: “We can’t forget what happened. Those releases are like torture for us. It is really torture.
“Yesterday they were talking about freeing some hostages, it is really confusing. It is like psychological torture. We want all of them back and we want them back together.”
British-Israeli Ayelet Svatitzky, whose brother and diabetic mother were taken from their homes and older brother was murdered, said: “On a personal level, someone’s mother came home, maybe not my mother.
“Someone’s mother came home yesterday, it is the beginning, it is far from the end.”
She told reporters she does not know if her mother is getting any insulin or if she can survive without the injections.
Ms Svatitzky and Ms Bibas Levy described how they both felt they did not have time to tell their loved ones how much they loved them amid the confusion and panic the invasion caused.
Ms Bibas Levy, who is not British-Israeli, said: “I never said how much I loved him (my brother).”
Ms Svatitzky told reporters: “I am clinging to the hope that my mother knows how much I love her, I never got the chance to tell her.”
She described how on her last visit to southern Israel she spontaneously decided to buy some beer and visit her elder brother at home to catch up.
She said: “Brother and sister sitting outside with a couple of beer bottles having a laugh. Who would imagine this would be the last time I spoke to him? I am just happy I got the chance.”
David Barr, whose sister-in-law Naomi was murdered on her morning run, told reporters he felt relief when he found out she had been shot rather than taken hostage.
He said of Hamas: “They are releasing two people, as if to show they are showing the world how compassionate they are?”
The teacher, who is originally from Leeds, also described how he worries for Jews living “in fear” in the UK.
He told the press conference: “As a British citizen myself – and I love this country – this is not the country I know. Things have changed.
“I don’t just worry for my own young family [in Israel], I worry for my Jewish community here in the UK.
“They live in fear. Not only do I worry for them, I worry for everybody here.”
Mr Sagi said he was comforted at a meeting with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak where he promised to do all that he could to assist victims’ families, but said that we “still need to see what that means”.
He added: “The Government, which we are absolutely thankful for all efforts, we need to see that in the streets.”
He also appeared to criticise the way pro-Palestinian protests were policed over the weekend.
He said: “We need to see the Metropolitan Police saying ‘guys, do you know what from the river to the sea means?’ We just saw that.”
The Foreign Office has said it will “continue to work tirelessly” to secure the release of more hostages.
