The remaining 20 Israeli hostages held by Hamas and more than 1,950 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held by Israel were returned to their homeland as part of the latest ceasefire agreement.
But people released from prison may still have a long road to rehabilitation.
Although some people may find the return to normal life more difficult than others, it is impossible to predict how each person will experience the process.
“In rehabilitation medicine, we talk not about cure, but about care,” said Avi Ohri, a doctor specializing in rehabilitation medicine who has worked in Israeli and global health for more than 50 years.
Dignity is a necessary first step
The first essential step must be the presence of empathy and the restoration of dignity, Ohri said.
Even achieving these results may be a slow process, said Ohri, who himself was a prisoner of war during the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
“Empathy, that’s the key,” Ohri told DW.
“Take a bath, eat something, drink something, see your loved ones.”
Immediate medical and mental health care is also important.
During the two years of the Israel–Hamas conflict, international observers and UN human rights experts have stated that Israeli hostages were Was subjected to torture and sexual abuse in captivityand Palestinian prisoners and detainees experienced Torture, sexual and gender-based violence In Israeli facilities.
Ohri said Israeli and Palestinian medical professionals need to learn what life was like before captivity for each individual, and what conditions they faced during captivity.
“How much they suffered, how much they were interrogated or tortured,” Ohri said, “what they were deprived of: food, water, everything.
It is likely that some individuals kept in captivity may be malnourished and require careful management to ensure safe return to healthy nutrition to avoid refeeding syndrome.
And then there is a need for psychological care and well-managed debriefing.
Debriefing and mental health care should be handled with sensitivity
“They have to provide information about whatever experiences they have gone through,” said Khader Rasras, a senior clinical psychologist and director general of the Treatment and Rehabilitation Center in the occupied West Bank. “And also to rekindle hope in their hearts and minds.”
Hostage International, a British NGO advocating for victims of hostage-taking, Note that the debriefing process It needs to be expert-managed and allow assistance by trauma specialists.
Along with psychological trauma, physical injuries can also impact recovery.
Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is one of the most serious consequences that can emerge for hostage victims or those detained during conflict situations.
These and other conditions manifest differently for different people. Some former hostages and captives may never experience PTSD. Others may experience symptoms immediately – or for the first time decades after release.
“This should be a special event for everyone [survivor],” Ohri said. ”After the medical checkup in the hospital, they are discharged home, you can continue the interview with empathy, going slow, a slow process of getting information.”
He said, “Not all prisoners of war, at any stage of life, at least one third, suffer from PTSD.” “It could be long-term, it could be postponed.”
regain one’s place in society
While individual, tailored care is essential for survivors, there is also a community care component that cannot be ignored.
Both Ohri and Rasras stressed the importance of bringing families and uniting Israeli and Palestinian communities on the resettlement journey.
It is a process of reintegration. At home, this means re-establishing the role of a person who has returned to family life.
“Once the person is able to get along with the people around [them]We also try to encourage them to explore careers or professions [they] One can do this to live a dignified life,” Rasaras told DW.
Part of the challenge for Palestinians returning to Gaza Local organizations will have the capacity to meet their needs, especially with local health care systems devastated by war. Rasras said it is highly unlikely that providers in the West Bank will be able to accept, let alone treat, prisoners in need of psychological support for release, but resources such as support hotlines could potentially help alleviate some of the demand.
This is where family and community are important, whether in Israel or the Palestinian territories.
“In the later stages [of rehabilitation]“Business, housing, social circle, studies, education, all these steps should not be completed alone, but with the help of people around you: the state, the country, the community,” Ohri said.
Even when a returned person has regained his or her place in his or her home and community, ongoing care is still an important final part of the process.
This is because even if a person appears to be okay, there is still a risk of the stroke resurfacing.
“Some people, they put a really good effort into therapy,” Rasaras said, “others, it takes them longer.”
Both experts DW spoke to for this story stressed the importance of long-term funding to support returned hostages and detainees in the long term. For Israel, Ohri said, this means maintaining a long-term safety net. Rasras said the provision of large-scale aid services in the occupied Palestinian territories would require international support.
“It will cost a lot of money,” Rasras said. “So I think it will be important for the international community to support centers working in this area.”
Edited by: Carla Bleiker