Israeli hostage freed by Hamas says ‘time is running out’ for captives as she describes harrowing conditions

TEL AVIV — Yocheved Lifshitz, one of the first Israeli hostages released by Hamas, took the world by surprise in late October when she shook the hand of one of her captors and uttered a single word: “Shalom” — a Hebrew salutation meaning “peace.”

Now, in an exclusive interview, Lifshitz said she believes peace can only be achieved once those who are still held captive are freed. That includes her husband, Oded Lifshitz, who was also kidnapped from their kibbutz, Nir Oz, on Oct. 7.

“Time is running out,” Lifshitz, an 85-year-old peace activist who was released on Oct. 23, told NBC News’ Richard Engel on Monday.

“They need to get out today. Otherwise, they won’t survive,” she warned.

‘They just won’t make it’
Lifshitz described the harrowing conditions in which she was held for more than two weeks, painting a dismal picture of what the remaining hostages could be facing.

“The lack of air in the tunnels, as well as the shortage of food and medicine, could bring people to complete exhaustion,” she said. “And they just won’t make it.”

Living with the sound of constant bombardment above ground was a terror of its own, Lifshitz said.

The journey into Gaza, she added, was also horrifying: Lifshitz was driven across the border on the back of a moped, lying on her side, as “crowds on the way, just like a swarm of locusts … beat me with sticks.”