Mother of freed Russian-Israeli hostage feared the worst for son held by Hamas
Evgeniia Kozlova was at home in St Petersburg last weekend when she got the call from her Israeli liaison officers.
“They asked, ‘how are things, how are you feeling? Are you alone there? Are you sitting down?’
“I dropped the phone to one side, and it fell under the table.”
Israel-Hamas war latest: IDF strikes back after Hezbollah fires 160 rockets
Her son, Andrey, had been living in Israel and working as a security guard at the Nova music festival when he was kidnapped by Hamas on October 7th.
After eight months of hoping he was still alive but hearing nothing about his condition or whereabouts, Evgeniia feared the worst.
“Suddenly I heard from under the table ‘it’s good news, good news!’ and so I crawled under the table.
“Did you say good news?
“‘Yes, they are bringing Andrey over by helicopter, he’s almost in Israel now!’
“They said it three times, and I still couldn’t comprehend. Who is bringing whom over, and where?
“They said it over and over until I got it. From that moment on I haven’t stopped smiling, I haven’t stopped laughing!”
Mikhail Kozlov, divorced from his wife but on good terms, packed instantly and ran over to join her. They flew to Israel the following day.
An emotional video of them being reunited with the son in an Israeli hospital showed Andrey breaking down and hugging his mother’s legs.
Read more: The hostages rescued by Israel
“During the eight months we’ve been waiting for him we feared he would be changed a lot, that he would be a different man and we would have to help him rehabilitate, help him recover,” Evgeniia said.
Footage released by Israeli counterterrorism police showed the moment they were rescued amid heavy explosions and gunfire.
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Video of hostage rescue
As well as Andrey, three other hostages were rescued: Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan and Shlomi Ziv.
Ziv, Jan and Kozlov were held together. Kozlov doesn’t speak fluent Hebrew or English and so it was hard for him to communicate with the other two, but they supported each other through their captivity and remain close.
“One of the phrases that really scared or hurt us, was when he said, ‘there are some things I will never tell you about,’ as for everything else, yes, he tells us, but it’s as if he’s playing storyteller, as if to entertain us,” Evgeniia added.
“Even the fact that his hands and feet were tied for two months – his hands and feet were tied – he tells it as if it were a joke.
“At first, their hands were tied behind their backs, and he told us how proud he was that he managed to eat with his hands tied, unaided.
“Andrey said that they are kept in very difficult conditions. His guards told him ‘your conditions are good compared to the rest, they are kept in much worse conditions’.
“The main thought he carried out of there was that all those remaining there must be freed. For a living, normal person it is unbearable to stay there for such a long time, eight months.
“These are impossible conditions. Impossible.”
Hamas claims at least 274 Gazans were killed during the raid and hundreds injured. Mobile phone footage shows scores of dead and wounded in the crowded Nuseriat market area.
Israel says the death toll was below a hundred and blames Hamas for holding the hostages in a busy civilian area, but the United Nations has suggested both sides could be guilty of war crimes.
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From Sunday: Hundreds killed as hostages rescued
Diplomatic efforts to secure a new ceasefire and hostage deal are progressing unsteadily, despite the presence of US secretary of state Antony Blinken in the region again.
Hamas formally responded to President Biden’s proposal on Tuesday night but reportedly want amendments that might not be acceptable to Israel.
Both sides continue to differ over when a permanent ceasefire should come into force: Hamas insists on it being agreed before any deal is implemented, whilst Israel is sticking firm on its commitment to keep fighting.
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Tensions have also risen to new levels on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon. More than 160 rockets were fired into Israel on Wednesday morning after Israel killed a Hezbollah commander on Tuesday, the most senior killed during the war so far.
No casualties were reported, although small fires broke out where some of the rockets landed.
World
UN’s Antonio Guterres condemns ‘teaspoon’ of aid allowed into Gaza after dozens die in airstrikes
The head of the UN has said Israel has only authorised for Gaza what amounts to a “teaspoon” of aid after at least 60 people died in overnight airstrikes.
UN secretary general Antonio Guterres said on Friday the supplies approved so far “amounts to a teaspoon of aid when a flood of assistance is required,” adding “the needs are massive and the obstacles are staggering”.
He warned that more people will die unless there is “rapid, reliable, safe and sustained aid access”.
A woman at the site of an Israeli strike in Jabalia, northern Gaza. Pic: Reuters
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Gaza: ‘Loads of children with huge burns’
Israel says around 300 aid trucks have been allowed through since it lifted an 11-week blockade on Monday, but according to Mr Guterres, only about a third have been transported to warehouses within Gaza due to insecurity.
The IDF said 107 vehicles carrying flour, food, medical equipment and drugs were allowed through on Thursday.
Many of Gaza’s two million residents are at high risk of famine, experts have warned.
Meanwhile, at least 60 people have been killed by Israeli airstrikes across Gaza overnight.
Ten people died in the southern city of Khan Younis, and deaths were also reported in the central town of Deir al-Balah and the Jabaliya refugee camp in the north, according to the Nasser, Al-Aqsa and Al-Ahli hospitals where the bodies were brought.
A body is carried out of rubble after an Israeli strike in Jabalia, northern Gaza. Pic: Reuters
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‘Almost everyone depends on aid’ in Gaza
The latest strikes came a day after two Israeli embassy workers were killed in Washington.
The suspect, named as 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago, Illinois, told police he “did it for Gaza”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Mark Carney of fuelling antisemitism following the shootings.
The leaders of the UK, France and Canada are “on the wrong side of humanity and (…) history”, he said, after they threatened “concrete action” against Israel this week if it continues its “egregious” military operations in Gaza.
Mr Netanyahu also accused Sir Keir, Mr Macron and Mr Carney of siding with “mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers”.
Palestinians search for casualties in Jabalia, northern Gaza. Pic: Reuters
But UK government minister Luke Pollard told Sky News on Friday morning he “doesn’t recognise” Mr Netanyahu’s accusation.
Earlier this week, Mr Netanyahu said he was recalling negotiators from the Qatari capital, Doha, after a week of ceasefire talks failed to bring results. A working team will remain.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251 others.
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The militants are still holding 58 captives, around a third of whom are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were returned in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel’s offensive, which has destroyed large swaths of Gaza, has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
A woman has been arrested after 12 people were reportedly injured in a stabbing at Hamburg’s central train station in Germany.
An attacker armed with a knife targeted people on the platform between tracks 13 and 14, according to police.
They added that the suspect was a 39-year-old woman.
Police at the scene. Pic: AP
Officers said they “believe she acted alone” and investigations into the stabbing are continuing.
There was no immediate information on a possible motive.
The fire service said six of the injured were in a life-threatening condition, three others were seriously hurt, and another three sustained minor injuries, news agency dpa reported.
The attack happened shortly after 6pm local time (5pm UK time) on Friday in front of a waiting train, regional public broadcaster NDR reported.
A high-speed ICE train with its doors open could be seen at the platform after the incident.
Railway operator Deutsche Bahn said it was “deeply shocked” by what had happened.
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Four tracks at the station were closed in the evening, and some long-distance trains were delayed or diverted.
Hamburg is Germany‘s second biggest city, with the train station being a hub for local, regional and long-distance trains.
In mid-May, the World Health Organisation assessed that there were “nearly half a million people in a catastrophic situation of hunger, acute malnutrition, starvation, illness and death”.
“This is one of the world’s worst hunger crises, unfolding in real time,” its report concluded.
Warning: This article contains images of an emaciated child which some readers may find distressing
Israel‘s decision this week to reverse the siege and allow “a basic level of aid” into Gaza should help ease the immediate crisis.
But the number of aid trucks getting in, so far fewer than 100 per day, is considered dramatically too few by aid organisations working in Gaza, and the United Nations accuses Israel of continuing to block vital items.
Israel-Gaza latest: Gaza enduring ‘atrocious death and destruction’, UN boss warns
“Strict quotas are being imposed on the goods we distribute, along with unnecessary delay procedures,” said UN secretary general Antonio Guterres in New York on Friday.
“Essentials, including fuel, shelter, cooking gas and water purification supplies, are prohibited. Nothing has reached the besieged north.”
Nineteen of Gaza’s hospitals remain operational, all of them are overwhelmed with the number of patients and a lack of supplies.
Baby Aya at Rantisi hospital in northern Gaza is dangerously thin
“Today, we receive between 300 to 500 cases daily, with approximately 10% requiring admission. This volume of inpatient cases far exceeds the capacity of Rantisi hospital, as the facility is not equipped to accommodate such large numbers,” Jall al Barawi, a doctor at the hospital, told us.
At least 94% of the hospitals have sustained some damage, some considerable, according to the UN.
Jall al Barawi, a doctor at Rantisi hospital
Paramedic crews are close to running out of fuel to drive ambulances.
The lack of food, after an 11-week blockade, has left thousands malnourished and increasingly vulnerable to surviving injuries or recovering from other conditions.
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Children are the worst affected.
Our team in Gaza filmed with baby Aya at the Rantisi hospital in northern Gaza. She is now three months old and dangerously thin.
Her skin stretches over her cheekbones and eye sockets on her gaunt, pale face. Her nappy is too big for her emaciated little body.
Aya’s nappy is too big for her emaciated little body.
Lethal spiral
Her mother Sundush, who is only 19 herself, cannot get enough food to produce breastmilk. Baby formula is scarce.
Aya, like so many other young children, cannot get the vital nutrition she needs to grow and develop.
It’s a lethal spiral.
This is what Aya looked like shortly after she was born
“My daughter was born at a normal weight, 3.5kg,” Sundush tells us.
“But as the war went on, her weight dropped significantly. I would breastfeed her, she’d get diarrhoea. I tried formula – same result. With the borders closed and no food coming in, I can’t eat enough to give her the nutrients she needs.”
“I brought her to the hospital for treatment, but the care she needs isn’t available.
“The doctor said her condition is very serious. I really don’t want to lose her, because I lost my husband and she’s all I have left of him. I don’t want to lose her.”
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Aya and her mother Sundush
Some of the aid entering Gaza now is being looted. It is hard to know whether that is by Hamas or desperate civilians. Maybe a combination of the two.
The lack of aid creates an atmosphere of desperation, which eventually leads to a breakdown in security as everyone fights to secure food for themselves and their families.
Only by alleviating the desperation can the security situation improve, and the risk of famine abate.
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