Hamas drugged hostages prior to releasing them, Israeli government says
Mike Brest
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Hamas drugged Israeli hostages before releasing them to make them appear more upbeat as they were freed, the Israeli Ministry of Health confirmed on Tuesday.
Ronit Endevelt, head of the Nutrition Department in Israel’s Ministry of Health, affirmed on Tuesday during a Knesset Health Committee meeting on the conditions of the freed hostages that they had been given sedatives. Health Ministry Head of General Medicine Hagar Mizrahi said they were given “Clonex to improve their mood,” according to Jewish Insider.
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More than 100 hostages were released during a weeklong ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, though there are still more than 100 held in Gaza. Footage of the hostages who were released spread on social media, with claims that the hostages’ apparent ambivalence toward their captors was an indication they were treated well while in captivity.
“This is part of the psychological terror Hamas put [the hostages] through,” Likud lawmaker Moshe Saada said. “A pill like this, for someone who is not used to its influence, works quickly to give you a feeling that you’re high when their mental state was actually very low.”
Drugging the hostages is another aspect of Hamas’s treatment of them, which includes the deprivation of sunlight, limited food, no access to their medications, and allegations of physical abuse.
On Tuesday, U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller implied Hamas decided not to free any additional female hostages, as was agreed upon, because “they don’t want those women to be able to talk about what happened to them during their time in custody.”
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Miller backpedaled his initial remarks but implied the testimony of those hostages would add to the account of the atrocities.
“I want to be very sensitive in my language when talking about people that continue to be held hostage, who have families on the outside,” Miller said. “We know Hamas has committed atrocities. … They were going to release these women and then suddenly, at the last point, reneged on the deal. … We would like to see them release the hostages so they could talk about whatever treatment or mistreatment they had undergone.”