TEL AVIV, October 24. /TASS/. Yocheved Lifshitz, one of the two Israeli women who had been freed from the Palestinian radical movement Hamas’ captivity, told reporters that she and other hostages had been held captive in an underground tunnel in the Gaza Strip.

"We were taken down into a network of tunnels," Israel’s Channel 12 quoted her as saying. They were held along with about 25 other hostages in a large hall before being taken into separate holding places in groups, she said, adding that they received the same medicines as in Israel and that each hostage was assigned a guard to watch him or her.

Lifshitz noted that Hamas took care of all their needs and that, "we ate what they ate - pita [bread], white cheese and cucumber."

She added that the Palestinian radicals had burned Israeli fields and launched burning balloons toward Israel three weeks before the incursion on October 7, but the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) did not take these incidences seriously as a warning of a larger attack.

Earlier on Tuesday, Lifshitz’s grandson told Reuters that his grandparents were peace activists who had helped Gazans to receive quality medical assistance in Israel over many years.