An 85-year-old Israeli hostage freed by Hamas says she was held in a 'spider's web' of tunnels and beaten with sticks

• Israeli hostage Yocheved Lifschitz, 85, was freed by Hamas militants on Monday evening.
• She said that captives are kept in a "spider's web" of underground tunnels in Gaza.

An 85-year-old Israeli hostage, who shook hands with her Hamas captor when she was freed, said that she was held in a "spider's web" of underground tunnels in Gaza and beaten with sticks.

Yocheved Lifschitz was freed by Hamas militants alongside Nurit Cooper, 79, on Monday evening, photos show.

Speaking to reporters from a Tel Aviv hospital on Tuesday, Lifschitz, who was in a wheelchair, said that she went "through hell" after she and her husband, Oded, were kidnapped during the Hamas terror attacks on October 7.

During the terror attacks, more than 200 people were taken hostage by Hamas. The militant group also killed 1,300 Israelis and foreign nationals and injured 3,715, say Israeli authorities. Israel responded with air strikes that have killed more than 5,000 people, according to Gaza's Ministry of Health.

Lifschitz was taken from the kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel into Gaza on a motorbike where she was hit by sticks and suffered bruising, her daughter Sharone, who helped with translation, told reporters.

Lifschitz said that she was forced to walk through wet mud for miles into a "huge network" of underground tunnels run by Hamas, which she compared to a "spider's web."

Most hostages were looked after, she said, and slept on mattresses in the tunnels, which she described as "clean."

"They gave us pitta bread, hard cheese, some low-fat cream cheese and cucumber and that was our food for the entire day," she said, adding that the hostages who were injured were tended to by a doctor.

"They were scared we'd become sick," she said.

Lifschitz's husband is still being held by Hamas, which may limit how freely she could describe her ordeal. Israel is working with other countries, including the UK and Egypt, to have them freed.

A video on Monday showed Lifshitz saying "shalom," which means peace in Hebrew, to a Hamas captor before shaking his hand. Asked by a reporter why she did this, Lifschitz said her captor had treated her well.