AN Israeli hostage's gesture of peace to her Hamas captor was watched around the world - now she has revealed why she did it.
Brave Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, survived 16 days of "hell" at the hands of the terrorists, but still showed a moment of kindness to them as she was finally freed.
Harrowing footage showed the moment Lifshitz was released from the grip of balaclava-clad Hamas gunmen late on Monday with fellow hostage Nurit Cooper, 79.
In the clip, a Red Cross worker can be heard saying: "It's okay, let's go... it's okay, let's go".
However, just before she takes the first step to safety - Lifshitz pauses and turns to shake hands with the masked Hamas fighter.
She offers him the simple blessing "shalom" - a Hebrew word for peace, used by Jewish people to say both hello and goodbye.
Her British daughter, Sharone, said: "The way she said thank you was so incredible to me. It was so her".
This morning, a frail looking Lifshitz spoke out about the "nightmare" she endured deep underground Gaza in the "spider web" of Hamas's terror tunnels.
However, she also shared the reasoning behind why she shook the hand of her captor.
Sitting in a wheelchair, she told reporters that "they treated us well".
Despite being kidnapped, beaten and dragged on the back of a motorbike, the grandmother shared that her captors were "prepared" and had a doctor visit them regularly.
"They had everything that men and women needed including shampoo," she said.
"We ate the same food they did -- pitas with cream cheese, melted cheese, cucumbers."
Through the two-week ordeal, Lifshitz said she slept on mattresses on the floor close to 25 other cowering captives.
“I went through a nightmare we couldn't have imagined. I constantly have the images of what happened repeating in my mind."
Last night, the traumatised-looking pair of freed hostages were airlifted to hospital and reunited with their relieved families.
Both their elderly husbands, aged 83 and 84, remain hostages inside Gaza.
Lishitz's Londoner daughter, Sharone, said it was "incredible" to be reunited with her mother - "to hold her hand and to kiss her cheek".
"She is very sharp and is very keen to share the information, pass on the information to families of other hostages she was with," she told the BBC.
Sharone said she will continue to campaign for the release of her father, Oded Lifschitz, and the other captives.
"I hope he is being looked after and has the chance to talk.
"My mum said they had been looked after and there was a doctor there, so this gives a lot of comfort to everybody.
"We have so many people that we've lost - it is a little ray of light but there is a huge darkness as well."
Lifshitz and Cooper were released for "compelling humanitarian" according to Hamas, following mediation by Qatar and Egypt.
The Israeli military says that at least 200 hostages are currently being held captive in Gaza following Hamas bloody October 7 massacre.
The UK government said six of the hostages are still missing British nations and stated it was their "absolute priority" to free them.
It's feared many of the captives are being held in Hamas' mysterious 311-mile maze of underground tunnels that Lifshitz described as a "spider web".
The latest hostage release brings the total to four after an American woman and her teen daughter were released on October 20.
Judith Raanan, 60, and Natalie, 17, had been visiting Israel from Chicago for a birthday when the Hamas massacres took place.
Key Hamas negotiator, Khaled Meshaal, revealed to that they will release hostages only when Israel reduces the intensity of its strikes on Gaza.
"Let them stop this aggression and you will find the mediators like Qatar and Egypt and some Arab countries and others will find a way to have them released and we'll send them to their homes," he said.
However, an IDF intelligence officer, Yossi Alpher, today claimed Hamas is releasing hostages slowly in the hopes of delaying Israel's ground offensive.
"If we want to wait two or three years, maybe we'll get another hundred hostages," he fumed, adding that there should be no gratitude to Hamas for the pair released.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly delaying a full invasion until they have secured their northern border with Lebanon.
It comes as Hamas terrorists filmed themselves blowing up a father with a grenade in front of his terrified kids who screamed "I want to die" in the latest atrocity to be uncovered.
It is part of a grisly compilation of footage released by Israel as a captive Hamas fighter claims he was under direct orders to "behead" innocents.
Israel said it had been forced to release the almost unwatchable montage to thwart a misinformation campaign by deluded supporters of its terrorist enemy.
Israel claimed that another video was taken during an interrogation of a 24-year-old captive from Hamas's Zaiton battalion.
The Hamas terrorist shockingly claimed he was under direct orders to "behead" women, children and the elderly and "do whatever you want" to them.
If the captive terrorist's claims are true then it is likely to spark a fresh storm over Hamas commanders' specific orders to butcher and brutalise innocent Jewish victims.
Meanwhile, Israel continues to blitz the Gaza Strip with renewed intensity as their expected ground invasion looms ever-nearer.
Thousands of buildings have been destroyed in the densely populated enclave, with entire city blocks reduced to rubble and many victims still feared buried beneath.
Gaza's health ministry says more than 5,000 have been killed since Israel began its bombardment of the densely-populated enclave.
In the past 24 hours, the IDF claims to have hit 400 targets, including several Hamas commanders, while their tanks and troops swarm close to the border.
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