By Rami Amichay and Michal Yaakov Itzhaki
TEL AVIV (Reuters) – The mom of one of many 4 hostages rescued from Gaza by Israeli commandos final week described the surge of feelings that she and her household have skilled since officers rang her to say that her son was protected.
“For a few minutes I probably didn’t know how to react,” stated Evgeniia Kozlova, whose son Andrey Kozlov was one among 253 Israeli and overseas hostages kidnapped by Hamas-led gunmen throughout their assault on Israel on Oct 7.
“But then I started laughing. And I’ve been laughing all the time ever since. I’m absolutely happy,” she advised Reuters.
Andrey Kozlov, 27, was rescued together with 21 year-old Almog Meir Jan and 40 year-old Shlomi Ziv by Israeli particular forces who raided the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza on Saturday in an operation Israeli officers stated took weeks of planning and preparation.
One other Israeli hostage, 26 year-old Noa Argamani, was rescued from a close-by constructing throughout the identical operation, which resulted in a dramatic raid throughout which greater than 200 Palestinians had been killed, in keeping with Gaza well being authorities.
Evgeniia Kozlova stated her first dialog along with her son was an amazing mixture of emotions that mirrored the anguish they’d suffered since his abduction from the Nova music pageant floor simply outdoors Gaza.
“It was both hard and joyful, and wonderful, and terrible because he was in a huge emotional turmoil,” she stated.
‘FLOW OF ENERGY’
She stated Andrey had advised her that all through the ordeal, throughout which he stated he and his companions had been mistreated in varied methods, he had been satisfied he would return.
“There was such a flow of energy from him, he was crying and laughing, and I was laughing too. We were comforting each other,” she stated.
The emotion felt by the household has been mirrored throughout a lot of Israeli society, the place information of the rescue was greeted with a surge of elation after months of more and more grim information from the struggle in Gaza, now in its ninth month.
Not less than 120 Israeli hostages stay in Gaza, lots of whom are lifeless, however talks geared toward agreeing a halt to the preventing and a deal underneath which they’d be returned in alternate for Palestinian prisoners, seem to have stalled.
The rescued hostages, who had been taken on to hospital from Gaza, haven’t spoken publicly about their ordeal.
“Andrey told us: ‘There are some things I will never tell you’. I don’t know what he didn’t tell us and what he doesn’t want to ever tell us,” she stated, however did say her son had given her a glimpse of the circumstances they lived underneath.
“He told us that they were required to follow some very strange rules, like you can’t sit with your legs towards these terrorists. You can’t do this, and you can’t do that,” she stated.
“You could be punished for getting the wrong water or getting it from the wrong place.”
She stated the guards had often abused the prisoners verbally. “They liked to tell them: ‘You’re an animal, you’re a donkey, you’re a fool, you’re dirty’. Andrey now knows these words perfectly well in Arabic, everything about Arabic swear words he has learnt well.”
Hamas has denied mistreating the hostages.
