In brief statements on Sunday night, two doctors at Sheba hospital suggested that the women were not in immediate need of emergency treatment.
тАЬIтАЩm happy to report that they are in stable condition,тАЭ said Prof. Itai Pessach, adding, тАЬThat allows us, and them, to focus on what is the most important thing for now тАФ reuniting with their families.тАЭ
Sheba Medical Center has been the first stop for dozens of captives who were seized in the October assault and later freed, including many of those released in an exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners in November 2023, as well as the four hostages rescued in an audacious and deadly Israeli military raid in June 2024.
Professor Pessach, who has led the Sheba medical team for returning hostages, cautioned in an interview in June that first impressions can be deceptive.
тАЬThe thing I definitely know is to expect the unexpected,тАЭ he said then, after receiving the four hostages who were rescued. тАЬAfter eight months,тАЭ he said, тАЬwe had a notion that theyтАЩd be much more broken, maybe look differently than they were.тАЭ
They had lost less weight than had been expected, he said. But then, he said, the results from medical tests start coming in, along with initial psychological evaluations, and тАЬyou start to grasp what theyтАЩve been through.тАЭ
All four had come back suffering from severe malnutrition, Dr. Pessach said, adding that the lack of sunlight, abuse and psychological stress they had endured would have long-term implications for their health.
тАЬAs wonderful as it is to see EmilyтАЩs resilience, these are still early days,тАЭ Mandy Damari, EmilyтАЩs mother, acknowledged in a statement on Monday, in which she noted that Emily was тАЬdoing much better than any of us could ever have anticipated.тАЭ
In a recent television interview, Yamit Ashkenazi, Ms. SteinbrecherтАЩs sister, said she was expecting to receive тАЬa different Doron.тАЭ Ms. Ashkenazi also worried about telling her sister that so many of her friends were killed in the Hamas attack.
