“It will never be a full recovery,” Dollberg said. “It would never be that, whatever happened to them would not affect them or be forgotten.”
Four hostages have been returned so far while a fifth was rescued by Israeli troops. Their accounts suggest that the captives were separated into small groups and held at least part of the time in a web of tunnels built by Hamas under Gaza.
Israeli institutions, including major hospitals and the Israeli health ministry, have said they are preparing to receive the hostages and offer treatment after the trauma of weeks of captivity and in some cases the loss of their parents.
“We do have skills and knowledge and it’s going to be very painful to hear the stories and meet the children,” Dollberg said. “We have to support them. We have to support their recovery.”
Israel’s Channel 12 reported on Wednesday that a soldier would be assigned to escort each child and given specific orders about what to tell them and that children would also be assigned social workers after being taken to hospitals in Israel.
“We should not say OK, now the children are released so everything is OK,” said Professor Hagai Levine, head of the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum medical team.
“In real life it’s complex – they have post-trauma,” he said. “We really need to be supportive and be patient for the long run.”
Source: CNA
