Dr. Efrat Bron-Harlev, CEO of Israel's Schneider Children's Medical Center, recently spoke at the United Nations about the plight of children abducted from Israel on October 7, 2023, by Hamas terrorists.
Of the 253 people abducted that day, 38 were children, she said, the youngest being Kfir Bibas, who was eight months old at the time.
The boy remains held captive along with his parents, Yarden and Siri Bibas, and his younger brother Ariel, who turned five last month.
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Paediatrician Bron Harlev said children released after 50 days of captivity still sometimes wake up in the middle of the night in fear.
“They were not allowed to cry, laugh or even stand up.”
She said the children “were like shadows of their children. There was no expression on their faces. They didn't look happy. They weren't crying. Most were very quiet.”
Of the 253 people abducted by Hamas on October 7, 2023, 38 were children, including Kfir Bibas (pictured above), who was eight months old at the time. The child remains in captivity, along with his parents, Yarden and Shiri Bibas, and his brother Ariel, who turned five last month. (Bethany Mandel)
Dr. Hagai Levin, president of the Israel Public Health Association and chief physician at the Forum of Hostage and Missing Families, also reported seeing children afraid to speak.
“While they were incarcerated, they were told, 'If you talk, you will be killed,' which is very traumatic,” he told Fox News Digital.
In addition to the psychological trauma, the hostages were also exposed to extreme physical danger.
Levine, who is also an epidemiologist, said the risks to the hostages' lives “range from fear of being killed to lack of food, oxygen, water, infectious diseases.”
“Every child has the right to health”
Citing the recent polio outbreak in the Gaza Strip, Levine said he had sent letters to UNICEF and the World Health Organization reminding them that “every child has a right to health, and that includes Kfir and Ariel Bibas.”
Levine said he was on a bus this summer with children of former hostages and children of relatives of hostages.
“They have their own abilities to deal with it.”
The youngsters attended a summer camp in the United States in July, he said.
“Some people have called me a white supremacist. Some people have called me the N-word.”
“I saw the songs and the jokes,” he said, reflecting on his observations. “I'm not saying they were happy, but they have a unique ability to deal with it.”
Doctors say they understand these children have had to grow up quickly, but that “brain plasticity” will help them rehabilitate.
Dr. Hagai Levin, president of the Israel Public Health Association, speaks during a press conference near the headquarters of the abduction victims' families in Tel Aviv on November 15, 2023. (Hadal Badal)
He said he has encouraged children to play and dance.
But given that there are still other hostages being held at the moment, “there is always a shadow” blocking their way, he said.
Helping to rebuild trust
Levine said these children grew up in the close-knit community of the kibbutz, so seeing hostage posters all over their neighborhood is very real to them.
“It's really hard for them to really recover,” he said.
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Levine said it's a long process for children to learn to trust again, and they need someone to be a constant presence in their lives, especially if a parent has been murdered.
He said physical, psychological and educational rehabilitation, including speech therapy and horse-riding therapy, can help them regain confidence and feel in control.
They said they had been “in this horrific nightmare for nearly a year.”
It also noted that relatives of hostages are experiencing survivor's guilt, severe depression, anxiety, insomnia and physical symptoms such as tremors.
They are traumatized by not knowing what happened to their loved ones and at this point “we've been in this horrible nightmare for almost a year,” he said.
“That could have happened to me too.”
“I feel like it could have happened to me too,” Roxanne Saar, the aunt of released hostage Gali Tarschanski, 13, told Fox News Digital.
On October 6, 2023, Saar was staying at his father-in-law's house in Kibbutz Beeri, but decided to return home that night.
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The following day, 101 civilians were killed and 32 kidnapped by Hamas terrorists in Beeri, according to JNS (Jewish News Syndicate).
Among the murdered were Gali Tarschanski's brother Lior (15) and uncle Noy Shos (36).
Adults from top left: Roxanne Saar, Gonen Saar (Alushi), Yehuda Alushi, Gali Tarshansky, Noi Shosh, Mahor Shosh, Liya Tarshansky, Reuma Alushi-Tarshansky, Lior Tarshansky. (Gali Tarschansky's family)
Saar said the first question the girl asked after being released after 54 days in captivity was: “Where is Lior?”
It was only after she returned to Israel that she learned that her brother, uncle, her dog Mocha, and the friends she grew up with on the kibbutz had been killed.
She had been held hostage in her Gaza home along with other Nova survivors and a couple from the Beeri kibbutz. Her husband, Ohad Ben Ami, remains a hostage, Sa'ar said.
“There were no showers or running water.”
Sa'ar said that in Gaza “there was not enough food, there was not enough medicine, there were no showers, no water… there was psychological terror.”
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She said her captors, some of whom were armed, told the young woman: “Israel does not exist. Your family no longer wants you.”
Saar added, “I don't know if we know everything… I have no expectations of terrorists who can kidnap a 13-year-old girl.”
She said it was important that the remaining hostages be released so that those who were released could heal.
Pictured above are Gali Tarschanski and her brother Lior Tarschanski in July 2023. “I don't think there's anyone anywhere in the world who can comprehend the potential impact this event will have on the future,” the siblings' aunt told Fox News Digital about Oct. 7, 2023, and its aftermath. “Everybody wants to help, but who can help with something we don't know about before?” (Gali Tarschansky's family)
Sa'ar said Gali Tarshansky now lives in another part of Israel and attends a new school, where she is receiving treatment.
“I don't think there's anyone in the world who can understand the potential impact this event will have on the future… Everybody wants to help, but who can help with something we don't know about before?” Saar said.
“It will take time.”
Dr. Mereb Ross, an analyst with the Forum for Hostages and Missing Families, told Fox News Digital that therapists treating released hostages are in uncharted territory.
“Will he come back when I'm really old?”
“This is all new,” she said. “Never before in history have so many children and families been kidnapped from their homes for such a long period of time and massacred so brutally.”
Ross is one of the founders of First Line Med (FLM), an organization that provides free medical treatment to victims of the October 7th incident.
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She supervises child therapists and treats adult family members of child hostages who were released after 50 or 54 days of captivity.
Ross said some family members initially had to be treated at home or in hotels because they were afraid to go out.
At left, Tarschansky and her half-sister, Eden Tarschansky, are grieving the death of their mother, Sylvia Ohayon, who was murdered at Beeri Kibbutz. (Gali Tarschansky's family)
She recalled how her three-and-a-half-year-old toddler had become frightened when he heard the sounds of the gardener working outside.
“I remember the little girl running to her mother's body and her mother immediately hugging her. She didn't say a word, she was pale, she was shaking, she wasn't even crying,” Ross said.
Another time, the girl heard a noise outside and asked, “Are they coming to get us again?” Ross said.
Ross said another child released from confinement will not be able to attend a full day of school in kindergarten.
Mereb Ross, an analyst with the Forum for Hostages and Missing Families, told Fox News Digital that she witnessed a 3-and-a-half-year-old child become frightened when he heard sounds of gardeners working outside. (Yehoshua Yosef)
Ross said her father is still being held hostage and she knows he is in danger, asking her mother, “Is my dad dead? Is he going to come back when I'm a lot older?”
Mr Ross said children who were held captive and separated from their parents or who witnessed family members being killed or injured had “shattered in the most extreme and cruel way” their sense of safety and trust in the world.
“They easily become frustrated, angry and isolated.”
Ross said some of the hostages were children held by abusive and threatening perpetrators, while others experienced Stockholm syndrome, identifying with their captors.
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The rise of anti-Semitism around the world is “a big blow,” Roth said, “and it just adds to the feeling that the world is crazy, that everything is twisted.”
She said these children suffer from “symptoms of trauma syndrome” including anxiety, depression, sleep disorders and social withdrawal.
They become easily annoyed, angry or detached, which means “they become disconnected from their emotional responses. They become confused. They can't concentrate, they can't respond emotionally enough. They become a little numb,” she says.
Released children (not pictured) suffer from “symptoms of trauma syndrome” including anxiety, depression, sleep disorders and social withdrawal, one expert said. (iStock)
Dissociation can also be a defensive reaction, Ross said.
“It will take them a long time to come to their senses, but that's a good thing, because their mind will protect them from all the emotions they would feel if they were connected. It would be overwhelming for them.”
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Therapists said these kids have a hard time feeling normal.
“They're finding any way they can to smile and be friendly and supportive. They're really trying. They're coping great, but they're injured.”
She said play therapy allows children to re-create real-life experiences through imaginary scenarios, giving therapists insight into their inner thoughts.
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“We see the world divided into totally good creatures and totally bad creatures, fighting each other… We see total evil, revenge, abuse and we see angels,” she said.
“You can see the other side too…the saviors who came out of nowhere to save them.”
A seven-year-old boy said his drawings of cats were “cat heroes” who helped him fall asleep and ease his fears.
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He also wrote a moving story with a therapist about a family whose kittens had been kidnapped and found. According to Ross, the child told the therapist, “I can finish therapy now because the kittens are home.”
“I'm always blown away by their beauty, their strength and their resilience,” Ross said.
