After the initial ecstasy of freedom, released hostages face a long road to recovery


After the initial ecstasy of freedom, released hostages face a long road to recovery

Updated 12:40 PM GMT+5, January 31, 2025 TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — When Ilana Gritzewsky returned to Israel after being held captive in Gaza for 55 days in November 2023, she had so much adrenaline coursing through her body she couldn’t sleep for two days. “You don’t understand that it’s really over,” Gritzewsky recalled. “You don’t know who you are or even what your name is.” A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is underway and hostages are being released in stages. But after the initial jubilation of being freed, the released captives — who have been held for more than 15 months — are likely to endure a trying reentry, based on the testimony of those who were held hostage themselves. Gritzewsky, 31, who is originally from Mexico, was kidnapped with her boyfriend from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants burst across the border, killing around 1,200 people, and kidnapping around 250 people, in an attack that sparked the war in Gaza.