WHO urges mental, physical support for freed hostages

ISTANBUL

The World Health Organization (WHO) has emphasized the need for complex mental and physical health care for released hostages following the implementation of a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.

The UN health agency's regional office for Europe, in a statement on Sunday, welcomed the release of "traumatized" hostages after 470 days in Gaza, noting that freed hostages and their families can now begin their "long and painful road" to recovery.

The WHO emphasized that recovery for the released hostages may take years and that families of hostages also require mental health support.

The organization pledged to support affected communities on both sides, offering assistance to Israel's health system "in any way requested" and scaling up operations in Gaza, where the health system is "shattered," to deliver critical medical supplies.

Earlier, the Gaza ceasefire agreement finally took effect Sunday after a nearly three-hour delay, with Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, handing over three Israeli captives. As part of the agreement, 90 Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons were expected to be released on the first day of the ceasefire.

Since Oct. 7, 2023, nearly 47,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed, with over 110,700 injured in what Palestinian officials have called Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, according to local health authorities.