- Sharone Lifschitz’s mother, Yocheved, was released by Hamas, but father Oded held on
A British-Israeli woman whose mother was freed by Hamas terrorists last month but whose father remains detained has welcomed the deal to release hostages, insisting it should be ‘women and children first’.
Selfless Sharone Lifschitz, like the families of the other 239 hostages, has been waiting for news of an agreement that will end their unbearable grief.
Her mother Yocheved, 85, was released by Hamas almost four weeks ago, but her father Oded, 83, is still being held. Ms Lifschitz said she was “hopeful” for a deal.
Mrs Lifschitz told MailOnline: ‘Everyone is incredibly worried at the moment, but I think it should be the children who go first and they should not be separated from their mothers.
“But this is all part of Hamas’ plan to get us through an impossible situation, it is a form of psychological torture.”
Sharone Lifschitz’s (left) mother, Yocheved, 85, (right) was released by Hamas almost four weeks ago
Sharone’s father Oded, 83, is still being held by Hamas terrorists. They are pictured here together
Ms Lifschitz said she thought any exchange would take place through the Rafah border crossing in the south, adding: ‘It usually starts with a small handful to see how it goes from there, but the children have to come first.
“We have a government official keeping us informed and we are all waiting to see our loved ones, but it is the children who must come first, we must put them first.
“All we can do is pray that my father is released soon because I don’t think he will last much longer. Everyone holding anything is devastated and we hope this is the start of good news.”
Meanwhile, Israel’s Justice Ministry published a list of 300 names of Palestinian prisoners who said they would be eligible for release.
As part of the deal struck by Israel and Hamas in Qatar, 150 prisoners will be released in exchange for about 50 hostages held in Gaza, and this percentage will increase during the four-day ceasefire.
Most of those lining up for release from Israel are men under the age of 18 being held for rioting and stone-throwing in the West Bank or East Jerusalem, while 13 women are also being held for attempting to terrorist stabbing.
However, the Almagor Terror Victims Association has said it will petition the Supreme Court against the deal, and founder Meir Indoor said they believed “the same landmines and surprises in the agreement were present in almost every other hostage deal in the past.”
The ceasefire is expected to come into effect within the next 24 hours and on Wednesday the Israeli military said fighting in Gaza was ongoing and sirens sounded several times across the country.