Latest / The Front / Free at last - but some hostages will never return

Transcript

Free at last - but some hostages will never return · The Front

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: It's Tuesday, October fourteen, twenty twenty five, two years and
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: seven days since the horror of the October seven Hamas
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: massacre in southern Israel. The last living Israeli hostages are free, starved, abused,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: held in tunnels and tormented by the terror group. The
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: twenty hostages freed include two soldiers and several men seized
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: from private homes in kibbutz communities, as well as revelers
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: from the Nova music festival and security guards who were
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: working at the dance party. Israel has also released nearly
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: two thousand Palestinians from prison, to scenes of wild celebrations
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: in the gazen city of Carnunis. More on that story
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: in a moment, and of course you can follow the
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: latest at the Australian Dot. In other news today, a
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: huge back down by Treasurer Jim Chalmers on his plan
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: to tax unrealized capital gains on superannuation balances over three
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: million dollars. Chalmers has dramatically scaled back the plan, but
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: says he hasn't been forced to back down by the
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: Prime Minister Today, the view from the Middle East with
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: our correspondence on the ground, after seven hundred and thirty
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: seven days freedom on a glorious clear skies morning, in
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: a tiny slip of land which has known so much heartbreak.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Our reporter Liam Mendez was on the ground as Israelis
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: finally saw the pictures that mark the end of a
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: living hell. You can barely hear Liam over the celebrations
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: in Hostages Square in a sea of blue and white
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: Israeli flags. The last twenty living hostages held by Hamas
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: since October seven, twenty twenty three are all men civilians,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: mainly two soldiers, security guards, fathers, twin brothers, boyfriend's sons.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: The first thing Hamas did was connect these young men
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: with their families via video calls, which really speaks to
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: the surreal nature of this conflict. And so we just
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: see some of these young men appearing on FaceTime calls
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: with their families and speaking to them for the first
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: time in two years, in some cases, often with our
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: Hamas captor standing masked in the background, watching on listening
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: to these interviews.
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: JOHNI.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: Bashan has been reporting on the ground for Israel and
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Gaza since the war began two years ago.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: But in all cases these hostages, they've been underground for
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: the past two years, so they appeared as you would expect, pale, gaunt,
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: mountain nourished. They looked in some cases like they did
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: in the proof of life videos that have been released
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: over the past twelve to twenty four months. Their voices
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: sounded surprisingly strong, but they're obviously experiencing a very happy
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: occasion to be ending their nightmare in Gaza, so they
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: did sound good. We know that some people in the
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: second group appeared to be in quite a die away
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: when we saw them in their proof of life videos,
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: appearing skeletal, emaciated, in one case dicking his own grave
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: in a tunnel.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: The hostages were released first to the Red Cross in Gaza,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: then driven across the border to Israel's m military base,
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: where they were reunited with their families, and then medically
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: assist before being airlifted north. So who are the hostages
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: who are now free at last? On October seven, twenty
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: twenty three, Matana Ungrest was a fit young Israeli doing
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: his compulsory military service when Hermas took him prisoner. You
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: can see in a stomach churning video his limp body
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: being held by her MASS fighters, then tumbling from the
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: top of a tank as men surround him. Five hundred
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: days later, her Mass released video of an exhausted looking Angrest,
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: saying he was losing hope.
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: Shalom klimly Matan angrest oktobers Ungrest was one of only
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: two soldiers still alive in her master's custody.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: The other is another young man, Nimrod Khan, who was
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: captured when his tank caught fire in southern Israel. Islamik Jihad,
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: which was holding security guard Rom Breslovski, forced him to
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: record a video showing his emaciated body. In the video,
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: Breslovski said he couldn't walk and begged for more food.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: One of the most distressing videos her Mass released showed
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: Evata David in a tunnel looking like a skeleton, digging
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: his own grave.
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: A social shash Demisler sagging me all.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: David was with his friend Guy Gilboa Delao at the
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: Nova dance party, a bunch of free spirited kids gathered
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: in southern Israel. Two of their friends were murdered at
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: the party. A previously freed hostage has described Guy and
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: Evatar enduring malnutrition and torture. They were reportedly forced to
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: sit facing a wall with black bags over their heads
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: for long periods of time. Still to return are the
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: corpses of remaining hostages who've died in the world's darkest places.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: They include an eighty five year old man abducted from
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: his kibbutz and a twenty seven year old woman in
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: Bar Hayman, abducted from the Nova festival and killed in captivity.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: There's an African student, a Thai farm worker, and a
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: taxi driver, all seized by HAMAS during their rampage.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: What complicates this matter logistically is that HAMAS doesn't hold
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: all of the bodies of the captives. There are other
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: factions in Gaza and they have custody of some of
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: these bodies. And we also know, because FAMAS has made
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: this point several times, that some of the dead captives
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: are hidden under rubble or they're located in areas that
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: are particularly difficult to reach, just because of the circumstances
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: of the war. But so this is an operation that
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: is being coordinated by a number of different parties. It
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: does involve from US, of course, but it also involves
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: members of Palestinian Islamic she Had. They've been holding captives
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: this entire time, and obviously you've seen some differences in
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: the treatment between some of the captives between the two groups.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: Those who've spent time in Hamas captivity have often reported
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: slightly better conditions. Those who've spent time in Palestinian Islamic
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: she Had captivity very different conditions. So the time that
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: one spent in Gaza as a hostage really depended on
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: who they were being held by, whereabouts, and at what
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: point in time they were being held.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: Israel held up its end of the deal, releasing more
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: than nineteen hundred Palestinian prisoners. That includes seventeen hundred Palestinians
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: detained in Gaza during the war and another two hundred
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: and fifty prisoners serving life sentences in Israeli prisons.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: They belonged to Kamas, they also belonged to Palestinian islamicis
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: he Had, and they also belonged to the secular Palestinian
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: nationalist group concentrated in the West Bank called Fattah. One
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: of the people being released, if I could combde you
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: with a case study, is a man by the name
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: of Ziad Ahwad, and he was originally released in twenty
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: eleven under the deal to free Corporal Gilad Shalit. That
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: was an Israeli soldier that was taken hostage by Hamas,
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: kept in captivity for five years, and when he was released,
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: there were more than a thousand Palestinian prisoners was swapped
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: for his life, and one of them was this man
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: named Ziad Ahwad, and he'd been in prison for allegedly
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: murdering a number of so called collaborators with Israeli authority.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: So these were Palistinians who had been killed. And after
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: he was released three years later, he took up a
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: position on a roadside approaching the town of Hebron. He
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: armed himself with an assault rifle and he waited for
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: a passing car, and that passing car happened to belong
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: to the Mizrachi family. He opened fire on the car
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: and shot a number of bullets into it, instantly killing
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: the driver, Baruch Misrachi, and injuring quite badly his pregnant wife.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: Her name is Hadas, and we spoke to her over
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: the weekend.
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: My husband, Bach Mislachi was murdered in Revron in two
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: thy fourteen. Now the terrorists, the father and his son
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: who murdered my husband, we're getting released.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: Everyone in Israel is elated with the arrival of the
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: hostages back in Israel, but there's a steep price to
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: pay for some Israelis in order to bring them home.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: And Hadas Misrahi is one of those people. And what
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: she said to me was essentially, there is a great
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: deal of happiness the hostages, an enormous amount of happiness,
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: but fur there is a sense of betrayal, and there
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: is a sense of sadness. And it hurts a lot
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: to know that just ten years ago the man who
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: took her husband's life was given a life sentence for
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: the crime. He's supposed to be serving life. And in
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: Australia we know life as being life in jail. But
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: here in Israel there's a slightly different calculus with people
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: who are in prison for terrorism. And it's because they
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: know that if they waited out long enough, they can
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: envision the situation in which hostages are taken held by
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: a terrorist group and then bartered for their release. And
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: that appears to be quite sadly and cynically. What's happened
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: in this case.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: Those life sentence prisoners have been told they'll be exiled
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: from the West Bank and will be taken to Egypt.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: Their families also claim they've been threatened by Israeli officials
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: not to publicly celebrate the releases or host family parties
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: coming up. Donald Trump addresses the Kanesset. Donald Trump addressed
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: Israel's parliament, the Kanesset, on Monday night, before traveling to
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: Egypt for a peace summit co convened with Egyptian President
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Abdel Fatah LCC. The topic how to turn the ceasefire
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: into a lasting peace.
• 11:21
  Speaker 5: The hostages are back. The hostages are back. It is
• 11:32
  Speaker 5: a good feeling. That nice to say. Peace through strength,
• 11:37
  Speaker 5: and that's what it's all about. The United States has
• 11:44
  Speaker 5: the greatest and most powerful military in the right now
• 11:48
  Speaker 5: history of the world. I can tell you we have
• 11:50
  Speaker 5: weapons that nobody has ever dreamt of. They only hope
• 11:54
  Speaker 5: we never have to use them. For so many families
• 11:57
  Speaker 5: across this land, it has been years since you've known
• 12:00
  Speaker 5: a single day of true peace.
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: But now, at.
• 12:03
  Speaker 5: Last, not only for Israelis, but also for Palestinians and
• 12:09
  Speaker 5: for many others, the long and painful nightmare is finally over.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: Even before Donald Trump boarded Air Force One, he kept
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: saying that the war is over. It's absolutely over. This
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: is yet, and he's very confident that Hamas is going
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: to disarm. Not confident. Do you think Israelis feel about that?
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: What certainly a remark that's being made by some of
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: the hostage families and some of the people who've gathered
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: at Hostage Square. And I think it's partly motivated by
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: not just optimism, but a great deal of hope. I
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: think everyone in Israel really wants the war to be over.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: And I'm sure there are plenty of people in Gaza
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: who want the water web ended, and plenty of people
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: around the world feel the same way. But there are
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: a couple of realities that need to come into effect
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: for the water to truly be over, and key amongst
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: them is that Hamas needs to lay down its arms
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: and its leaders need to go into exile. And on
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: its face, they appear to have committed to do that,
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: But where only the first phase of this deal, And
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: the first phase really was to get the hostages, all
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: forty eight of them alive and dead, out of Gaza.
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: The next phase of that is going to be the
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: real test for Hamas to see if it really does disarm,
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: and if it does so, then the expectation is that
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: the Israeli defense forces will pull out of Ghazan territory
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: entirely or almost entirely, and it will create an opportunity
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: for the Palestinian population there to rebuild their lives, to
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: be done with the tunnels, and for some kind of
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: civil authority to come in and rebuild the territory and
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: improve their lives and create a circumstance of flourishing for them.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: But all of that is contingent on whether Kamas does
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: actually disarm, and that remains to be soon.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: Joanni Vashan and Liam Mendez are in the Middle East
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: for The Australian. You can check out their reporting and
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: all our coverage right now at the Australian dot com
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: dot au