“The body remembers captivity pressure. It has physical and mental costs,” Professor Noa Eliakim-Raz, the head of the Returning Hostages Department at Beilinson Hospital (Rabin Medical Center) in Petah Tikva, told JNS recently.
Eliakim-Raz explained that years after captivity, former hostages are more likely to develop conditions such as diabetes, heart diseases, respiratory issues, dental problems, premature aging and chronic pain.
“It’s not only about what we see when they come back. It’s also about building a reach-out protocol to seek these problems and detect them early on,” she said.
Beilinson is one of three hospitals in Israel that receive redeemed hostages. Eliakim-Raz established the first dedicated unit to receive, stabilize, and support hostages returning from Gaza. She was among the first to welcome them home, leading a team that has since treated dozens of survivors.
“I had the great privilege to be part of the medical team in November 2023, which treated the first round of returnees, mothers, grandmothers and children. I helped take care of the mothers and grandmothers because I am an internal medicine physician and not a pediatrician,” she said.
A year later, Eliakim-Raz became head of the returnees’ ward in Beilinson.
“For more than a year, we had time to build a detailed protocol for the returnees’ ward. We picked the most trained professionals who had the qualities we thought were needed to work in this ward,” she said.
The multidisciplinary team taking care of released hostages, Eliakim-Raz explained, includes doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, nutritionists, occupational therapists and mental health professionals.
The first step in building the returnees’ ward and developing a detailed protocol was looking at the relevant literature. “Of course, there isn’t any literature exactly about this, but we looked at Yom Kippur War studies by the IDF, Holocaust studies and everything around the world we could find that could somehow relate to this,” she said.
“We thought of every medical condition that we could encounter, conditions connected to severe malnutrition or long-term underground captivity. We carried out many simulations to link the team because they had not been used to working together,” she continued.
“We wanted the ward to look like home. This is the first home former hostages return to and we did not want them to come back to a typical hospital ward. We built living rooms and bedrooms, we considered every little detail,” she added.
Eliakim-Raz stressed that while the family reunion and the first few days in the ward may seem most important, it is in fact the start of a very long rehabilitation process.
“Their time in the ward is like a time capsule, a transitional space between captivity and freedom. Every returnee has a dedicated multi-disciplinary team. The team works with every single one of them at their own pace,” she said.
“The same team follows them through the dehospitalization and rehabilitation process. They see familiar faces: people they built trust with. I can look at these people and say that I saw them the minute they arrived from Gaza, how they looked and talked—and I can tell they’ve come a long way,” she added.
Eliakim-Raz stressed the importance of using the strength of the group.
“There are groups that go through the process together and we use that also in rehabilitation,” she said.
Eliakim-Raz explained that despite the fact that the returnees are supposed to invest their time in their rehabilitation, they spend an important part of it campaigning for the return of those still in captivity.
“It’s time-consuming for them; they go all over the world all the time and it cuts into their rehab process. It’s a top priority for them, “she said.
One of the most inspiring aspects of her interactions with returning hostages, Eliakim-Raz said, was how thankful the redeemed hostages were, as well as the stories of their friendship and how they cared for each other.
“They were in the most terrible place in the world, but came back incredibly human and they appreciate every moment. It makes you appreciate life,” she said.
Family reunions in the ward, Eliakim-Raz emphasized, are full of joy and happiness but are also charged with a lot of fear.
“It’s a bit like giving birth, it’s emotional and happy, but you don’t really know who you are getting back. You are getting someone that you are afraid might be a different person,” she said.
“We put a lot of emphasis on different talks with families about that, we had family nights with open questions, there was power in the group, people were asking questions that were on everybody’s minds,” she continued.
“One of a returnee’s family ran to him and said, ‘It’s really you.’ It’s like they didn’t know what to expect until they see that person they remember,” she added.
While the team continues to train with other hospitals and through the health ministry, Eliakim-Raz said the ward awaits the next batch of returnees.
“The ward is ready with up-to-date medicine, sheets on the bed, we are all set,” she said.
On a personal note, Eliakim-Raz said, the relationship and trust she built with former captives is extremely rewarding.
“When I feel that they trust me and they know that I am there for them at any time, any hour, for every little thing they need, it makes me the happiest person,” she said.
“I had more than one of them tell us that this journey they are travelling with us is healing their wounds from Oct. 7. Hearing that sentence from some of them is priceless, because we all have survival guilt, whether we need to feel it or not,” she continued.
“Correcting what was done is really a great privilege,” she added.