US President Donald Trump commented on Sunday on the conditions of Eli Sharabi, Ohad Ben Ami and Or Levy, who were freed from Hamas captivity a day earlier, and said that “they looked like Holocaust survivors.”
“I have to tell you that I watched the hostages come back today, and they looked like Holocaust survivors. They were in horrible condition. They were emaciated. It looked like many years ago, the Holocaust survivors. I don't know how much longer we can take that when I watch that,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
“I know we have a deal where they dribble in and keep dribbling in, but they are in really bad shape. They have been treated really horribly. Even the ones that came out earlier, they were in a little bit better shape, but mentally they were treated so badly.”
Trump also had a warning for Hamas, that “at some point, we're going to lose our patience.”
“When I see that scene that I saw today with people coming out of helicopters and airplanes that are emaciated, that look like they haven't had a meal in a month…no reason for that,” he said. “And I don't know how much longer we can take it. I don't know how long we can take it. When I watch people that were healthy people, a reasonably short number of years ago, and you look at them today, they look like they've aged 25 years. They literally look like the old pictures of Holocaust survivors. The same thing. I don't know how long we're going to take that.”
The three hostages who were freed on Saturday looked gaunt and were in poor physical health, but were forced to thank their captors for "treating" them.
A medical source who treated the three released hostages said their condition does not differ from the condition of the Jews who suffered in the Nazi concentration camps.