Israel’s Sheba Medical Center, the country’s second-largest hospital, has established a dedicated Hostages Rehabilitation Unit to provide comprehensive care for the recently returned hostages. This latest move comes on the heels of having released 20 men who collectively spent 737 days in captivity in Gaza. The unit focuses on a multidisciplinary action-oriented approach. It’s a guide to finding and addressing the unique, multidimensional needs of people as they take their first steps into a long, challenging recovery journey.
Sheba’s rehabilitation program
Her multidisciplinary team of specialists will include You’ll collaborate and co-treat with physiotherapists, speech and occupation therapists, psychologists and nutritionists. Not so fast Each of these professionals will be integral to a successful recovery process. They will help guarantee that the hostages can receive personalized treatment specifically designed to curate their unique physical and mental wounds.
Emily Damari, another British-Israeli hostage, after being released in January. She points out the harsh realities that people face after coming home from prison. Upon her release, she was still in for months of rehab. This process involved surgery to heal the wounds she got while being held hostage. Her experience sheds light on the reality of long-term rehabilitation that is often required with many former captives.
These are some of the 24-year-old Israeli Alon Ohel’s first words after being released from captivity. He sustained life-threatening injuries throughout his crisis, including losing sight in one eye. His story highlights the lasting physical impact years of captivity have on people that require long-term, specialized medical care.
Final medical examination of recently returned hostages inside the Re’im military base. The facility, pictured above, lies deep in southern Israel near Eilat. After completing this evaluation, the hostages will be transferred to Sheba Hospital for further medical treatment or psychological support. After the release of the 10 hostages, hospital officials are making arrangements to receive them and provide them what they need to recover.
The trauma she’s incurred is going to necessitate a long, long rehabilitation process, likely stretching out over several months or years. Further complicating things, issues can come up long after they’re released, creating even more hurdles to their recovery. To Prof. Hagai Levine’s original statement, hostages and their families are in “grave danger.” They’re finding it hard to chart a course through this painful transition.
“We now hope that, with the return of all of the hostages, we can begin a process of full rehabilitation – for the survivors of captivity, for the families, and for society as a whole. Medical, psychological, and social rehabilitation is a long and complex process that requires responsibility, coordination and cooperation.” – Prof Hagai Levine
What will happen next, both to those survivors and their other 19 hostages, as they embark on this new chapter in their lives, is uncertain. Our Hostages and Missing Families Forum underscored the need for this discussion. Continuing with that theme, they echoed the idea that the journey doesn’t stop after release—it begins at the point of release. Through the lens of this interactive story, we see that the ongoing urgencies for support and care are starkly evident.
“After two years under inhumane conditions of starvation, deprivation of medical care, isolation, violation and abuse, they now need medical care, close supervision, and peace – and above all, the restoration of their identity as people, not as ‘hostages’.” – Hostages and Missing Families Forum
To help facilitate the returnees’ re-entry into society, the Israeli government has shipped welcome kits for each returnee. The kits include personal handwritten greetings from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara. These communications represent a powerful bipartisan national constituency for returnees.
“Their bodies and minds have endured prolonged injury, and their treatment must take place in a safe, calm, and respectful environment.” – Hostages and Missing Families Forum