Hostages freed from Gaza meet with Pope Francis and press campaign to bring remaining captives home

ROME (AP) — A delegation of former hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and their relatives met Thursday with Pope Francis and expressed hope that the incoming and outgoing U.S. administrations would work together to bring the remaining hostages home.

The freed hostages included Yelena Troufanov, who was released last November but whose son Sasha remains in Gaza and appeared in a video released Wednesday by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group.

“You see in the picture how my child has changed over the course of this year,” Yelena Troufanov told a news conference in Rome after the papal audience. “I am very worried about his condition, I see that he is not in a good mental state and not in a good physical state.”

She and the other former hostages and relatives renewed their calls for a deal to bring the remaining hostages home, especially with winter approaching. They said they hoped the incoming Trump administration would work with the outgoing Biden administration to push the process forward.

The war started when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping 250, with dozens still in Gaza. Israel’s subsequent campaign has killed more than 43,000 people, according to Gaza health officials, whose count doesn't distinguish between civilians and fighters, though they say more than half of the dead are women and children.

The war has ignited a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, driven Israel into increasing international isolation, with two world courts examining charges of war crimes, and had sparked a wave of protests on American campuses that have fueled debate over the U.S. role as Israel’s key military and diplomatic supporter.

“We hope that with the election of Trump, together with Biden — this is not about left and right — we hope that Biden and Trump work together now to get the hostages back before the winter,” said Sharone Lifshitz, who accompanied her mother, Yocheved Lifshitz, to the audience.

Her mother, a longtime peace activist, was released Oct. 23, 2023, but her father Oded remains in Gaza. Sharone Lifshitz, who wasn't kidnapped, thanked Francis for meeting with the delegation and said that he promised to pray for each of the hostages still being held.

Israel says that Hamas is holding about 65 hostages and the remains of about 35 others either killed on Oct. 7, 2023, or who died in captivity.

“The pope is a few years older than my father. Both of them are men who spent a lifetime making this world a place that cares for the weak, that cares for each other, that reaches across religions and creeds to make it a place where humans, real humans, can live in dignity,” she said.

Louis Har, an Argentine-Israeli who was freed during an Israeli army raid in Rafah last February, said that he never imagined that he would meet the Argentine pope. He wept at one point recounting his ordeal to reporters gathered at the Rome headquarters of Italy's Jewish communities. He said that he had given the pope a necklace with a charm signifying hope.

“I felt his sincerity, his care, and that we didn’t come in vain,” he said. “There is someone listening to us. I hope that his prayers and his message will reach the whole world, because he has an impact on the whole world.”

Francis has tried to strike a balance in his comments on the Hamas attack in 2023 and the Israeli response, and conflicts in Gaza and southern Lebanon that have ensued. He has called for an immediate cease-fire, for the release of hostages and for humanitarian aid to get to Gaza.

He has also suggested that Israel’s actions in Gaza and southern Lebanon are disproportionate and immoral, and says that he calls a Catholic parish in Gaza every day to check in on the people it is sheltering.

He has met twice before with relatives of the hostages, and once with Palestinians whose families were affected by Israel's operations in Gaza.

Natalie Melzer reported from Tel Aviv, Israel.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

From left, Louis Har, Sharon Lifschitz, and Gaya Kalderon former Israeli hostages and relatives of some still being held by Hamas attend a press conference in Rome, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

From left, Elena Troufanov, Louis Har, Sharon Lifschitz, and Gaya Kalderon former Israeli hostages and relatives of some still being held by Hamas attend a press conference in Rome, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Louis Har, a former Israeli hostage, is backdropped by photos of hostage still held by Hamas during a press conference in Rome, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Louis Har, a former Israeli hostage talks during a press conference in Rome, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Louis Har, a former Israeli hostage, gets emotional during a press conference in Rome, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Former Israeli hostage Elena Troufanov holds a photo of his son, still held by Hamas, during a press conference in Rome, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Elena Troufanov, left, and Louis Har, former Israeli hostages and relatives of some still being held by Hamas attend a press conference in Rome, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Elena Troufanov, left, and Louis Har, former Israeli hostages and relatives of some still being held by Hamas attend a press conference in Rome, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

From left, Elena Troufanov, Louis Har, Sharon Lifschitz, and Gaya Kalderon former Israeli hostages and relatives of some still being held by Hamas hold photos at the end of a press conference in Rome, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

ATLANTA (AP) — Jail officials in Georgia's most populous county are violating the constitutional rights of people in their custody by failing to protect them from violence, using excessive force and holding them in filthy and unsafe conditions, U.S. Justice Department officials said Thursday.

The Fulton County Sheriff's Office doesn't adequately protect jail detainees from violence by other detainees, including stabbings, sexual abuse and killings, federal officials contend in a lengthy report that details alleged abuses and offers remedial actions that can be taken. Vulnerable populations, including people who are gay, transgender, young or who have serious mental illness, are particularly at risk from the violence, which causes physical injury and long-lasting trauma, the report says.

“Our investigation finds longstanding, unconstitutional, unlawful and dangerous conditions that jeopardize the lives and well-being of the people held there,” Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for civil rights, said at a news conference in Atlanta.

The report resulted from a federal investigation launched in July 2023 to examine living conditions, access to medical and mental health care, use of excessive force by staff, and conditions that may give rise to violence between people held in jails in the county, which includes most of Atlanta.

Federal authorities cited the September 2022 death of 35-year-old Lashawn Thompson in a bedbug-infested cell in the Fulton County Jail’s psychiatric wing, noting that an independent autopsy conducted at his family’s request found that he died of severe neglect. Photos released by attorneys for Thompson’s family showed that his body was covered in insects and that his cell was filthy and full of garbage.

Two other people in the same mental health unit died in the weeks following Thompson's death. Both were killed by their cellmates and found with their feet bound, the report states.

“We cannot turn a blind eye to the inhumane, violent and hazardous conditions that people are subjected to inside the Fulton County Jail,” Clarke said. “Detention in the Fulton County Jail has amounted to a death sentence for dozens of people who have been murdered or who've died as a result of the atrocious conditions inside the facility.”

Assaults and stabbings with “shanks” are “a feature of life" at the jail, the report states, noting that there were 1,054 assaults and 314 stabbings in 2023. In some cases, officers have allowed or initiated the violence, and many attacks go unreported or are not properly documented.

Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat, who took office in 2021 and was reelected last week, has consistently raised concerns about overcrowding, dilapidated infrastructure and staffing shortages at county lockups. He has pushed county leaders to build a new jail, which they have so far been unwilling to do.

The sheriff's office didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment about the report's findings.

Although county leaders and the sheriff's office are aware of the violence and have publicly spoken out against it, “they have failed to take adequate action to address the crisis, and homicides, stabbings, and other violent acts continue at dangerous levels,” according to the report.

Clarke noted that the report provides basic remedial actions and said the Justice Department is ready to work with the county to address the problems identified.

“I'm hopeful at the end of the day that Fulton County can put in place the reforms, measures and best practices necessary so that it might stand as a model for other institutions across the country,” she said.

Ryan Buchanan, the U.S. attorney in Atlanta, said the problems affect a large percentage of people in county custody and noted that the rate of assaults at Fulton County Jail outpaces that in other major city jails by a nearly two-to-one ratio. An overwhelming majority of those in custody are in pretrial detention and have not been convicted of a crime.

“The most obvious casualties of the civil rights violations occurring in the jail are those who leave the jail in body bags,” he told reporters. “But our investigation has revealed hundreds more injured, traumatized and dehumanized people, all of whom are just as deserving of the protections of the Constitution as all of us in this room.”

The “crisis of violence” in the Fulton County Jail is due in part to a lack of an effective classification system. resulting in a extremely violent people and gang members being housed with vulnerable and low-risk people, he said.

Jail officers “have a pattern or practice of using excessive force” against people in county custody, the report says. Officers do not receive adequate training and guidance on the use of force, they use Tasers too frequently and in “an unreasonable, unsafe manner,” and staff who use excessive force are not consistently disciplined, it states.

Fulton County has a main jail and three annexes, and investigators found that the main jail is hazardous and unsanitary, citing flooding from broken toilets and sinks, infestations of cockroaches and rodents, and filthy cells with dangerous exposed wires. There isn't enough food for detainees and the distribution services are unsanitary, the report says. That leaves detainees exposed to pest infestation, malnourishment and other harms, investigators contend.

People held in Fulton County custody receive inadequate medical and mental health care in violation of their constitutional rights, leaving them open to risk of injury, serious illness, pain and suffering, mental health decline and death, the report states.

People with serious mental illness are routinely held in restrictive housing that exposes them to risk of serious harm, including self-injury, physical decline and acute mental illness, the report says.

The jurisdiction of the juvenile justice system in Georgia ends at age 16, so 17-year-olds are housed in county jails. They are held in restrictive housing with little time outside of their cells, leaving them susceptible to the onset of mental illness, depression and an increased risk of suicide, the report says.

Included in the report are 11 pages of “minimum remedial measures” that jail officials should implement. It ends with a warning that federal authorities could take legal action if concerns are not sufficiently addressed.

Fulton County detainees are no Justice Department last month released a report detailing

FILE - The Fulton County Jail is shown, April 11, 2023, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Kate Brumback, File)