Israeli doctors and psychologists are preparing for the imminent return of some 50 women and children who were among the roughly 240 hostages abducted during Hamas-led terrorist attacks on Israel more than six weeks ago, and health professionals working with the hostages’ families warned in a video news conference Wednesday that their path to healing will be arduous and must be guided cautiously, a step at a time.

Those being released likely won’t have any idea of the full magnitude of what happened on October 7, and will have to be told slowly and delicately, Dr Hagai Levine said at the news conference. Many no longer have a home to return to because whole villages were destroyed, and they may not know that many of their family members, friends and next-door neighbors are gone, he said.

Some young children were kidnapped by gunmen who had just killed their parents, and being released may separate them from a sibling or other individual who became their caretaker in captivity but is still being held, Levine said. All of the hostages are believed to have been held underground in darkness or dim lighting, and being in the sunlight will be a shock to their system, he said.

Many of the hostages may be malnourished or dehydrated, and some will need immediate medical attention, Levine noted. All of them will be taken directly to hospitals, where they will be shielded from the press and the general public and provided with a calm, protected place to recuperate, he said.

“We’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time — six weeks,” Levine said. “In this time, we collected medical information on the health needs of the hostages, and the special needs of women and children.” He also said that “for six weeks, Hamas did not allow access to the Red Cross, so we do not know their health situation”.

Orna Dotan, who leads a team of mental health professionals working with the families of the hostages, agreed with Levine at the news conference that there was no comparable event to guide them in caring for the freed hostages.

Levine said he learned a lot from the experience of Yocheved Lifshitz, an 85-year-old grandmother who was abducted from her home on Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7 and was released last month along with another woman, Nurit Cooper, 79, after 17 days in captivity.

New York Times News Services