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Agence France-Presse

“I am here to take you home. You are in a safe place” – Israeli soldiers are being carefully prepared to receive potentially deeply traumatised women and child hostages seized by Palestinian militants.
From a manual for trauma care to medical support, even the first words the soldiers escorting them home will say have been carefully scripted, with experts warning many could face a long road to recovery.
During a four-day truce agreed by Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers, 50 of the roughly 240 hostages held by the militants are set to be freed in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners.
The first of them are due to be handed over on Friday, after around seven weeks in captivity in a war-battered landscape.


At the request of the Israeli government, child abuse specialists from the Haruv Institute in Jerusalem prepared detailed guidelines on how to handle the minors once they are released.
“When the soldier meets the child,” reads the manual, seen by Agence France-Presse, they should politely introduce themselves and offer soothing assurances such as “I am here to take care of you”.
Aside from immediate medical aid, they are encouraged to find out and carry with them a child’s favourite food items, be it pizza or chicken schnitzel.
If that is not known, the manual asks that they carry basic items such as bread, cheese and fruit.
The secret negotiations that led to the Gaza hostages deal
With many of them having lost family members when Hamas launched the deadliest attack in Israel’s history on October 7, soldiers are instructed to sidestep questions from the children on the fate of relatives – even if they know the answers.
“Each question must be answered along the lines of ‘My job is to bring you to Israel, to a safe place, where people you know will be waiting for you and will answer all of your questions.’”
It recommends a “complete ban” on any media engagement with the children immediately after their release.
The manual drew from the experiences of victims in other hostage scenarios including victims of the Islamist group Boko Haram in Nigeria, said Ayelet Noam-Rosenthal, one of the authors.


“We need a common trauma-informed language for the children coming back,” Noam-Rosenthal said.
“We need to do everything to do no harm,” she added, “to not cause additional trauma.”
Israeli experts warn there are several unknowns about the hostages to assess what kind of support will be needed.
“No one knows if kids and their parents will be released together or separately,” said Moty Cristal, a retired Israeli military official with experience in hostage negotiations.
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“We don’t know if women have faced sexual violence in captivity,” he said.
“Given the barbaric nature of the attacks and captivity we can only prepare for worst case scenarios,” he added.
Relatives of the hostages have campaigned relentlessly in Israel and around the world for their release, holding public demonstrations, exhorting global officials to help and pursuing a vigorous media campaign.
AFP has confirmed the identities of 210 of the around 240 people abducted on October 7 during cross-border attacks by Hamas on military posts, communities and a desert music festival. At least 35 of those taken hostage were children, with 18 of them aged 10 or under at the time of the Hamas attack.

“In some cases, children were taken moments after watching their parents being brutally murdered,” Zion Hagai, chairman of the Israel Medical Association, told the media. “They are not only forced to live with this trauma but to experience it in a strange, dark and scary place.”
One of the youngest hostages is Kfir Bibas, a boy who was just nine months old when gunmen snatched him from Nir Oz kibbutz near the Gaza border, along with his four-year-old brother Ariel and his parents Yarden and Shiri.
Shiri appears in a video from the day of the attack seen by the family, cradling her children in her arms with gunmen all around her.
Some of the children have had birthdays in captivity.
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At least 68 of those abducted were women, many of them aged over 80.
The Haruv Institute manual as well as health officials warn that professionals offering support are themselves vulnerable to trauma.
Ofrit Shapira-Berman, a psychoanalyst and professor at the Hebrew University, said she met a teenage boy at a counselling session for October 7 victims who heard his parents and two sisters screaming on the phone before they were murdered.
“I’m just sitting there and trying to grasp something out of my experience to help him,” she said in an online video, adding that the boy and other victims “will need our help for many, many years.”
“I do my best,” she said, “and then I go out and start weeping because it’s beyond imagination.”


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Israel prepares to embrace hostages returning from Gaza: ‘You are in a safe place’

People walk past graffiti calling for the return of hostages in Kfar Saba, Israel on Thursday. Photo: AP

Ofri Bibas Levy, sister of Yarden Bibas, held hostage in Gaza with his wife Shiri and two children, Kfir and Ariel, talks to the media in Geneva, Switzerland on November 14. Photo: Keystone via AP

Israel-Gaza war: ceasefire, hostage release to start at 7am local time on Friday

Palestinians flee to the southern Gaza Strip. Israel and Hamas announced a deal on Wednesday allowing at least 50 hostages and scores of Palestinian prisoners to be freed, during a four-day truce. Photo: AP

Palestinians flee the Naser neighbourhood following Israeli air strike on Gaza City. The temporary truce, facilitated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, is to take effect in stages that can be extended and broadened. Photo: AP

Palestinian children wait in line with containers to collect water in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on November 23. Photo: Reuters

Israel-Gaza war: Israel arrests director of Gaza’s biggest hospital al-Shifa

An image grab from a file handout video released by the Hamas Media Office, shows doctor Mohammad Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, giving a press briefing on on November 1, 2023 regarding the repercussions of fuel shortages on the hospital. A doctor at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City told AFP that the facility’s director and several other medical personnel were arrested by Israeli forces on November 23, 2023. (Photo by HAMAS MEDIA OFFICE / AFP) / == RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT “AFP PHOTO / HO / HAMAS MEDIA OFFICE” - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS ==

Palestinians gather outside one of the departments inside the al-Shifa hospital complex. The Israeli army, which raided the hospital last week, has alleged that Hamas fighters used a tunnel complex beneath the facility in Gaza City to stage attacks. Photo: AFP

Mohammad Abu Salmiya, director of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, gives a press briefing on November 1 about the repercussions of fuel shortages on the hospital. Photo: AFP

South Africa’s Ramaphosa accuses Israel of war crimes and ‘genocide’ in Gaza at Brics summit

-South African President Cyril Ramaphosa accused Israel of war crimes and “genocide” in Gaza during a BRICS group of nations summit on Tuesday. Photo: Pool/AFP

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Soldiers are being given a manual on how to handle traumatised children, including bringing their favourite food and sidestepping questions on their family
50 of the Hamas-held hostages are set to be released as part of a ceasefire deal, but experts warn that many could face a long road to recovery


Soldiers are being given a manual on how to handle traumatised children, including bringing their favourite food and sidestepping questions on their family.


Israel prepares to embrace hostages returning from Gaza: ‘You are in a safe place’

Soldiers are being given a manual on how to handle traumatised children, including bringing their favourite food and sidestepping questions on their family 50 of the Hamas-held hostages are set to be released as part of a ceasefire deal, but experts warn that many could face a long road to recovery