When the 84-year-old Elma Abraham kidnapped Oct. 7 from her home in the Nahal Oz kibbutz was a self-serving member of the community, her relatives say. When Hamas released her, yesterday Sunday, she was “fighting for her life”, according to hospital sources.

THE 84-year-old woman was released along with 16 other hostages, including a 4-year-old American-Israeli girl, on the third day of the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. While the other hostages were in good health, Elma’s daughter told reporters that her mother arrived with a pulse of 40 and hypothermia (28°C).

The deputy commander of Soroka Hospital in the city of Be’er Sheva reported that her condition remains critical and she is under sedation in the intensive care unit (ICU).

Speaking to reporters outside the hospital, Tali Amano claimed that her mother would have died if she had been taken to the hospital a few hours later. She stated that she had been facing health problems for years, but for which she was receiving medication and her health condition was under complete control.

As the 84-year-old’s daughter said, she turned to the Red Cross begging him to send medicine to her mother. “We waited at the entrance, with a package that had medicine for her,” he recounted, but the answer he received was that it was impossible to access hostages.

A spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed to the Reuters news agency that it met with families who wanted to deliver medicine for certain hostages with health problems, but explained to them that they could not receive it. “We are still asking for access to the hostages, as we have done since the very first day,” he stressed. “In this particular case, we sent a doctor to accompany and care for Mrs. Elma Abraham during her transfer, along with other hostages from the Gaza Strip,” added the ICRC representative.