The conditions of three emaciated Israeli hostages freed Saturday from Hamas represent a "war crime," and show that time is running out for the remainder of the hostages to be released, according to the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
"The images of hostages Eli Sharabi, Or Levy, and Ohad Ben Ami — emaciated by starvation, weak from months of abuse, their bodies resembling those of concentration camp survivors — must haunt the world’s conscience," the center, which combats antisemitism and hate while promoting Holocaust education, said in a statement to Newsmax.
Saturday, armed militants led the three hostages onto a stage before a crowd of hundreds, where they had to make statements before they were handed over to the Red Cross. The three men, all civilians were among the 250 people seized as hostages during the Hamas-led invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Their return was met with "immense relief," but their release was "not a moment of triumph; it is a moment of reckoning," the Simon Wiesenthal Center said in its statement.
"Where are the UN’s resolutions against Hamas, which has murdered, tortured, starved, and brutalized men, women, children, and elderly hostages?" the center said.
Meanwhile, the people who are still being held captive "do not have the luxury of drawn-out negotiations, political posturing, or diplomatic delays," the center said.
"Every passing hour risks another life lost to Hamas’s savagery, it added. "The deal needs to be accelerated. They need to be brought home NOW."
The center's Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles illuminated its blue lights Saturday night in a symbol that is a "beacon of hope and a symbol of defiance against the evil that still holds our people hostage. Let no one dare look away."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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