Latest news with #physicalabuse
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
Murdered Hamas hostage Itzik Elgert tortured to death, autopsy reveals
The autopsy revealed that Itzik's body arrived with extensive trauma, including multiple broken ribs, a fractured nose, and damaged toes – injuries suggesting brutal and sustained physical abuse Itzik Elgert, an Israeli hostage whose body was returned in February in the framework of a hostage deal with Hamas, was tortured to death during interrogation in captivity, his brother Danny Elgert revealed in a post on X/Twitter on Thursday. 'Today, after my brother's autopsy, the facts are clear: Itzik did not die of a heart attack. He was tortured to death,' his brother wrote. According to Danny, the autopsy found that Elgert's injuries, including multiple broken ribs, a fractured nose, and broken toes, were sustained by brutal physical abuse. 'He was murdered with extreme cruelty,' Danny added. Autopsy showed severity of trauma Although the forensic institute was unable to declare Elgert's precise cause of death legally, its findings concluded that the severity and nature of the fractures were consistent with the sort of trauma that causes death if inflicted on a living body. Elgert's brother slammed the government's handling of the hostage situation, implicitly blaming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: 'Cause of death – Mr. Neglect,' he wrote. Roughly six weeks earlier, Danny had described the circumstances surrounding his brother's disappearance. He said that Hamas interrogators believed Elgert was a pilot, in part due to an eagle tattoo on his arm, and took him away for questioning. He never returned. 'My brother was with hostage Edan Alexander. The terrorists suspected that he was a pilot because of his tattoo. They then took him away, and he never came back,' Danny recalled. 'Idan asked where he was, and they told him: 'He's gone.'' 'Itzik is dead, murdered, because they thought he was a pilot,' Elgert's brother said. Elgert was kidnapped during Hamas's October 7 massacre. His body was returned to Israel during the final phase of the first stage of the hostage deal earlier this year. He was buried near his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz. Hundreds gathered for the funeral to pay their last respects.
LBCI
11-08-2025
- LBCI
Lebanese Security Forces release statistics on domestic violence cases for July
The General Directorate of the Internal Security Forces (ISF) released statistics on domestic violence cases reported through its 1745 hotline for July 2025, documenting 59 cases of physical abuse, with no reported incidents of sexual or economic violence. According to the report, perpetrators in these cases included 28 husbands, 23 fathers, and two brothers. The monthly report covers calls related to physical, sexual, psychological, and economic abuse received through the hotline. Cases may be reported by victims, family members, or witnesses, and include identification of the perpetrator's relationship to the victim.
CNN
05-08-2025
- Health
- CNN
Childhood verbal and physical abuse leave similar impacts, study shows
Cruel words can leave a mark on a child –– and may have as much of an impact as physical abuse, new research has found. People who experienced physical abuse as a child were at a 50% increased risk of reporting low mental health in adulthood compared with those with no abuse, according to the study published Tuesday in the journal BMJ Open. Those who experienced verbal abuse had a 60% increase in likelihood of low well-being. The prevalence of physical abuse in people in England and Wales has halved, from 20% in people born from 1950 to 1979 to 10% in those born in or after 2000, according to the study. Verbal abuse, on the other hand, has increased. In the United States, more than 60% of people participating in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Youth Risk Behavior Survey reported experiencing emotional abuse and 31.8% reported physical abuse. The survey listed emotional instead of verbal abuse, but asked about similar behaviors as the most recent study. In this latest analysis, researchers analyzed data from more than 20,000 adults across seven different studies in England and Wales. The study team evaluated childhood experiences using the Adverse Childhood Experiences tool and components of adult mental health using the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale. The 'results suggest that verbal abuse in childhood can leave mental health scars as deep and long-lasting as those caused by physical abuse,' said lead study author Dr. Mark Bellis, professor of public health and behavioral sciences at Liverpool John Moores University in the United Kingdom. Across the United States and the world, there has been an epidemiological shift of a greater burden of verbal abuse across generations, said Dr. Shanta Dube, professor of epidemiology and director of the department of public health at the Levine College of Health Sciences at Wingate University in Wingate, North Carolina. She added that emotional abuse is 'often tied to the act of verbal abuse and therefore verbal abuse can often get lost.' The rise of verbal abuse amid the decline of physical abuse highlights a need to raise awareness around spoken abuse, especially given the lasting impact, said Dube, who was not involved in the study. 'Verbal abuse may be eroding the mental health benefits we should expect from successful efforts to reduce physical abuse,' Bellis added. It can be hard to draw the line for sure on what language is harsh and what is verbal abuse, but it can include blaming, insulting, scolding, criticizing or threatening children, said Dr. Andrea Danese, professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at King's College London and adjunct clinical professor at the Yale Child Study Center. He was not involved in the research. 'Think about the use of derogatory terms or statements intended to frighten, humiliate, denigrate or belittle a person,' he said. 'It is often unintentional.' Comments can sound like 'Johnny can do it. Why can't you?' 'You always make mistakes,' 'You're stupid,' or 'You're worthless,' Dube said. 'Harsh, denigrating words spoken to children have lasting impacts. Children developmentally are concrete thinkers 'it is or isn't,' she said in an email. 'They can take things literally.' Children rely on the language of the adults in their immediate environment to learn both about themselves and the world, Danese said. Therefore, the way children are talked to can be very powerful in both positive and negative ways, he added. 'Being the subject of verbal abuse can twist a young person's understanding of who they are and their role in the world,' Danese said. The study relies on observational data, meaning that researchers cannot say for sure that verbal abuse in childhood causes poorer mental health in adulthood, only that there is a connection between the two. It could be that people who experience verbal abuse in their younger years have trauma later, but it also could be that adults with worse mental health are more likely to remember their childhood more harshly, Danese said. However, the sample size was large enough and the approach was strong enough to add to the existing evidence around impacts of verbal abuse, Dube said. It is increasingly important that researchers and individuals pay attention to the factors that impact long-term mental health, Bellis said. 'Poor mental health is a major and growing global public health issue, particularly among adolescents and young adults,' he said. Part of the decline in physical abuse may be attributed to more awareness, data collection and campaigns focused on its reduction over the years, Dube added. 'Improving childhood environments can directly enhance mental well-being as well as helping build resilience to protect against the future mental health challenges individuals may face through adolescence and adulthood,' Bellis said in an email. 'We need to ensure that the harms of verbal abuse are more widely recognised.' Parents and caregivers with more information and support may be better equipped to create better home environments for their children, he said. 'This means helping build emotional regulation skills in parents and children, helping catalyse emotional attachment between them, developing their communication skills and encouraging modelling behaviours in parents so that they demonstrate the type of approaches to problems that they would like to see in their children,' Bellis said in an email. But the issue doesn't stop with parents –– all adults who interact with children need to understand the impacts of verbal abuse, Dube said. And the answer isn't just to shame adults, Danese said. Instead, he and other researchers are looking to support a cultural shift toward everyone being more mindful about the language used toward children and how it might affect them. 'It's not about dramatising times when we could have let negative comments on children slip,' he said in an email. 'It is about being mindful of them and trying to repair them with an apology, a correction, and an explanation.' Editor's note: If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, help is available. Dial or text 988 or visit for free and confidential support.
CNN
05-08-2025
- Health
- CNN
Childhood verbal and physical abuse leave similar impacts, study shows
Cruel words can leave a mark on a child –– and may have as much of an impact as physical abuse, new research has found. People who experienced physical abuse as a child were at a 50% increased risk of reporting low mental health in adulthood compared with those with no abuse, according to the study published Tuesday in the journal BMJ Open. Those who experienced verbal abuse had a 60% increase in likelihood of low well-being. The prevalence of physical abuse in people in England and Wales has halved, from 20% in people born from 1950 to 1979 to 10% in those born in or after 2000, according to the study. Verbal abuse, on the other hand, has increased. In the United States, more than 60% of people participating in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Youth Risk Behavior Survey reported experiencing emotional abuse and 31.8% reported physical abuse. The survey listed emotional instead of verbal abuse, but asked about similar behaviors as the most recent study. In this latest analysis, researchers analyzed data from more than 20,000 adults across seven different studies in England and Wales. The study team evaluated childhood experiences using the Adverse Childhood Experiences tool and components of adult mental health using the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale. The 'results suggest that verbal abuse in childhood can leave mental health scars as deep and long-lasting as those caused by physical abuse,' said lead study author Dr. Mark Bellis, professor of public health and behavioral sciences at Liverpool John Moores University in the United Kingdom. Across the United States and the world, there has been an epidemiological shift of a greater burden of verbal abuse across generations, said Dr. Shanta Dube, professor of epidemiology and director of the department of public health at the Levine College of Health Sciences at Wingate University in Wingate, North Carolina. She added that emotional abuse is 'often tied to the act of verbal abuse and therefore verbal abuse can often get lost.' The rise of verbal abuse amid the decline of physical abuse highlights a need to raise awareness around spoken abuse, especially given the lasting impact, said Dube, who was not involved in the study. 'Verbal abuse may be eroding the mental health benefits we should expect from successful efforts to reduce physical abuse,' Bellis added. It can be hard to draw the line for sure on what language is harsh and what is verbal abuse, but it can include blaming, insulting, scolding, criticizing or threatening children, said Dr. Andrea Danese, professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at King's College London and adjunct clinical professor at the Yale Child Study Center. He was not involved in the research. 'Think about the use of derogatory terms or statements intended to frighten, humiliate, denigrate or belittle a person,' he said. 'It is often unintentional.' Comments can sound like 'Johnny can do it. Why can't you?' 'You always make mistakes,' 'You're stupid,' or 'You're worthless,' Dube said. 'Harsh, denigrating words spoken to children have lasting impacts. Children developmentally are concrete thinkers 'it is or isn't,' she said in an email. 'They can take things literally.' Children rely on the language of the adults in their immediate environment to learn both about themselves and the world, Danese said. Therefore, the way children are talked to can be very powerful in both positive and negative ways, he added. 'Being the subject of verbal abuse can twist a young person's understanding of who they are and their role in the world,' Danese said. The study relies on observational data, meaning that researchers cannot say for sure that verbal abuse in childhood causes poorer mental health in adulthood, only that there is a connection between the two. It could be that people who experience verbal abuse in their younger years have trauma later, but it also could be that adults with worse mental health are more likely to remember their childhood more harshly, Danese said. However, the sample size was large enough and the approach was strong enough to add to the existing evidence around impacts of verbal abuse, Dube said. It is increasingly important that researchers and individuals pay attention to the factors that impact long-term mental health, Bellis said. 'Poor mental health is a major and growing global public health issue, particularly among adolescents and young adults,' he said. Part of the decline in physical abuse may be attributed to more awareness, data collection and campaigns focused on its reduction over the years, Dube added. 'Improving childhood environments can directly enhance mental well-being as well as helping build resilience to protect against the future mental health challenges individuals may face through adolescence and adulthood,' Bellis said in an email. 'We need to ensure that the harms of verbal abuse are more widely recognised.' Parents and caregivers with more information and support may be better equipped to create better home environments for their children, he said. 'This means helping build emotional regulation skills in parents and children, helping catalyse emotional attachment between them, developing their communication skills and encouraging modelling behaviours in parents so that they demonstrate the type of approaches to problems that they would like to see in their children,' Bellis said in an email. But the issue doesn't stop with parents –– all adults who interact with children need to understand the impacts of verbal abuse, Dube said. And the answer isn't just to shame adults, Danese said. Instead, he and other researchers are looking to support a cultural shift toward everyone being more mindful about the language used toward children and how it might affect them. 'It's not about dramatising times when we could have let negative comments on children slip,' he said in an email. 'It is about being mindful of them and trying to repair them with an apology, a correction, and an explanation.' Editor's note: If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, help is available. Dial or text 988 or visit for free and confidential support.
Irish Times
03-08-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
What will Ireland's costly five-year schools abuse inquiry achieve?
In recent weeks, the Government has announced the establishment of an inquiry into sexual abuse in all schools, primary and second level . Now people who suffered physical abuse are asking, 'what about us?' Four categories of abuse are used in classifying abuse – sexual, physical, emotional, and neglect. In the legal world, a claim of sexual abuse appears to have top billing when it comes to redress, but that should not take from the fact that the effects of any abuse, experienced as a child, can be difficult to measure. When we consider the hurt caused by verbal abuse, mockery, classroom humiliation, exclusion, we realise that these experiences can have lifelong consequences for the individual and society. Social class played a part in the abuse in schools . READ MORE Noted Brazilian educator Paulo Freire, writing about oppressors versus the oppressed, made the point that very few, if any, are capable of overcoming the views and prejudices of the class into which they were born. Teachers in schools, be they religious or secular, tended to come from middle class origins and many took the view that it did not matter if one treated the children of the poor differently from the those whose parents were better off, parents with whom the teachers could more easily identify. This was relevant from the foundation of the primary school system in the 19th century, though it began to change gradually in the 1960s and with the introduction of free education. It is questionable what a five-year, costly Government inquiry, which will divert financial and personnel resources from the educational budget, will achieve. If the net of inquiries of past abuses continues to be widened, will a point of closure ever be reached? We know that abuse happens in families. Will future governments trawl through every family in the land so that every child who was ever abused in any setting is going to have a voice? [ 'I'm angry that my abuse as a child does not count' – State must pay for school sexual abuse Opens in new window ] Minister for Education Helen McEntee said institutions and religious orders involved in historical sex abuse in schools will be "held accountable" for the "awful" crimes. Photograph: Cate McCurry/ PA Wire Presumably the inquiry will identify those who allege abuse. Will it then have the task of assessing the truth of any allegation? Will it presume that all allegations are true? There is the question of natural justice, whereby the accused has the right of reply to his/ her accuser. Having verified whether an allegation is credible (and there is a difference between credibility and truth) there is the question of who will bear the cost of redress. And we need to ask ourselves, and those who represent us in Government, if 'giving a voice' actually brings healing. It may – but being the public voice that represents all those who suffered could also serve to lock one into the hurt. Tánaiste Simon Harris has insisted that the religious organisations will have to pay and the Opposition are adamant that they have 'got away' with not paying. Religious organisations have already paid some money and handed over buildings. There has not been any calculation of the money and salaries that wereploughed back into schools. This might be as immeasurable as the degree of abuse. The reality of child abuse within and without the churches has been revealed and openly debated for the past 30 years. It has shattered the institution of the Catholic Church and, in many ways, has been as transformative as the Reformation was in the 16th century. The credibility of the Church of Rome has been marred, possibly beyond repair. But there may come a point where we are in danger of ignoring present abuses in favour of scrutiny of the past. Finally, questions must be raised about school management. The greater number of our schools are under the management of the Catholic Church. The pay back in terms of church practice and adult belief seem minimal. The passing on of faith is primarily the role of the family. This is the time for the Catholic hierarchy to hand back the schools to the State. Margaret Lee is a retired Principal Social Worker with experience in Child and Family Services, as well as on Child Protection Committee.
