“I went through hell,” Ms. Lifshitz told reporters the day after her release, sitting in a wheelchair at a hospital in Tel Aviv amid a thicket of microphones. “Many people stormed our homes, they beat people, some of them they abducted, like me,” Ms. Lifshitz said. Ms. Lifshitz said that she and others were relatively well taken care of, given medicine and the same food as their captors. Ms. Lifshitz is the first released hostage to speak publicly about her ordeal. Weeks before the assault, Palestinians had rioted and fired explosive balloons near the Gaza border fence, sparking fires in southern Israel, Ms. Lifshitz said.

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Persons: Yocheved Lifshitz, Lifshitz, Ms, Nurit Cooper, Lifshitz’s, Kibbutz Nir Oz, Sharone, ” Ms, ”, Nir Oz, Judith, Natalie Raanan, Oded —, —, Weeks, “ Organizations: International Committee, Hamas, Palestinian, Shin Locations: Gaza, “, Tel Aviv, Cross, Egypt, Israel, Kibbutz