The families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza gathered Wednesday in Tel Aviv Square where they have been holding rallies for more than a year, as word trickled down of the agreement reached with Hamas to put end the fighting in Gaza and bring the hostages home.
After more than 15 months of captivity by Hamas, the first of an initial group of 33 hostages is expected to be returned to Israel on Sunday, before negotiations on the release of the remaining 65 hostages begin about two weeks later.
The first group, made up of children, women, men over 50 as well as the wounded and sick, will be released gradually over the next six weeks, but it was not yet possible to know who , on the list, was alive and who was dead.
Bring Them Home, a group representing hostage families, released a statement expressing “overwhelming joy and relief” following the deal, but for many the initial feeling was one of exhaustion and doubt. , while they waited to learn the fate of their loved ones.
“It’s a roller coaster,” said Yosi Shnaider, a cousin of Shiri Bibas who was kidnapped with her husband Yarden and her children Ariel and Kfir, aged 4 years and 10 months, during the attack by the Hamas against southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
“We don’t know if they are on the list, if they will come back in the first phase, if they are alive or not. In fact, we don’t know anything. It’s scary,” he said .
The fact that the hostages were sent back in small groups over several weeks, leaving families waiting, cast a shadow over the hope of seeing their loved ones return with them.
“The families can’t take it anymore,” he said. “I have no words to describe how difficult it is.
The Bibas family are among the most famous hostages still held in Gaza. Ariel and Kfir are the only children remaining after a previous deal reached in November 2023, which included the restitution of more than 100 of the 251 people Israel estimates were captured in the attack by Hamas fighters, who killed some 1,200 soldiers and civilians during the deadliest day in Israeli history.
A video showing Hamas gunmen kidnapping Yarden Bibas on October 7 was broadcast on Israeli media last year and the family’s plight captured Israeli and international attention as the war in Gaza raged around them.
THIS IS HELL
The deal that could end the war was reached after months of negotiations and heavy pressure from the administrations of US President Joe Biden and future President Donald Trump, who promised “hell to pay” if the hostages were not returned.
The Israeli campaign in Gaza has killed more than 46,000 Palestinian fighters and civilians, according to Palestinian officials, and devastated the coastal enclave, creating a humanitarian crisis for more than two million people trapped in the rubble.
Hamas agreed on Wednesday and the Israeli cabinet is expected to back it on Thursday. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar interrupted a visit to Europe to attend a security cabinet vote.
“This is the right decision. It is an important decision,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in a statement. “There is no greater moral, human, Jewish or Israeli obligation than to bring our sons and daughters back to us.
Polls show that most Israelis favor a deal to recover the 98 Israeli and foreign hostages still in Gaza and end a war that has increasingly isolated Israel internationally and makes the army pay an increasingly heavy price.
“I think it’s amazing, we’ve been waiting so long for our hostages to finally come home, praying, hoping, and now it’s finally happening. And we’re so excited,” said Ariella Cohen, 18, sitting with friends in a Jerusalem cafe.
But the deal also drew strong opposition from hard-line nationalists in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, as well as from some hostage families themselves.
Hardliners say the deal will undermine Israeli security in the long term, while relatives of male hostages, including serving soldiers and military-age men, fear they will never returned, given the complications linked to negotiations with Hamas, which remains in Gaza despite losing thousands of fighters and most of its main leaders.
“This is not a deal, this is hell,” said Daniel Algarat, whose brother Itzhak Elgarat, 69, was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7.
“Trump promised us hell and we are in hell,” he said. “The government does not have the mandate to bring back just some of them, it must bring them all back.”
“My brother is going to come in the first stage, but we don’t know what condition he is in, we don’t know if he is alive, we don’t know anything.”
