Health Minister Uriel Busso revealed that Adina Moshe, 72, from Kibbutz Nir Oz, who was released Friday from Hamas captivity, acted nobly when she tried to give up her return to Israel in favor of another hostage.
"Adina Moshe, having recently returned from Hamas captivity, met with me," Busso said. "She mentioned a heated discussion she had with a terrorist at the point of her release, in which she requested the release of another woman – older and in a worse state than herself. This is the essence of bravery displayed by such extraordinary individuals."
Read more:
"On Friday, the sound of bombings just stopped, which was a signal to my aunt that something was shifting," Adina's niece, Maayan Moshe, told the British newspaper The Times. " As they were led out of the tunnel, a wave of fear washed over them, under the belief that they were being taken to their execution. The moment they caught sight of the Red Cross vehicles, they realized their journey toward freedom had begun. They kept on terrorizing them until the very last minute."
On Sunday, Adina left the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon with a heavy heart. She's upset because she didn't get to attend her husband Sa'id's funeral. He was brutally killed right in front of her on October 7, and while she was being held captive in Gaza and she was not able to grieve for him.
Adina's granddaughter, Anat Shoshani, opened up about the emotional turmoil. "My grandma's been sharing her experience. She saw my granddad get shot multiple times when they were being taken hostage. All she could focus on then was staying alive, she didn't have time to think about whether he was dead or alive. By the time she got back, we had to tell her he was gone. We'd buried him and she was crushed by the news. She's not even ready to look at a picture of his grave yet. Right now, grieving for him is the hardest thing for her, even harder than dealing with what she went through in captivity," her granddaughter explains.
While Adina's family have formed a ring of support around her, they have little doubt she's facing a long road ahead of her until she completely recuperates from the ordeal.
"My grandmother is strong," Shoshani said. "She was taken to Gaza after seeing a terrorist storm into her house, murder my grandfather and rip off her jewelry. The conditions in captivity were difficult, and she's still digesting the fact she's back and has no idea where she'll live yet. Her house was burned to the ground and she's lost her husband, her best friend. This is going to take time."