Their families and loved ones have been waiting for this moment for fifteen months. It’s just a matter of days. Thirty-three hostages, held in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, must be released during the first phase of the truce agreement signed Wednesday January 15 between Hamas and Israel.
The first reunions could take place from Sunday or Monday, depending on the schedule established by all parties.
As during the first ceasefire observed in the Gaza Strip in November and December 2023, women, children and the elderly must be the first to leave the Palestinian enclave. The list of names, which must be submitted by Hamas and then validated by Israel, is not yet known. US President Joe Biden said hostages of American nationality would be among them.
Israel is in any case preparing for these returns. On Wednesday evening, the IDF unveiled the first outlines of its reception system, called “the wings of freedom”. The army will deploy two special centers in Reim and Kerem Shalom, near the Gaza Strip, to receive the first released people. The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was ready to facilitate their release, and therefore their transfer between the Palestinian enclave and the border.
VideoCeasefire agreement in Gaza found: reactions in Gaza and Tel Aviv
-In these centers, they will be able to shower, change and will be received by psychologists and support officers. During the first truce, members of the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence service, were also on hand to retrieve crucial information from the freed hostages, such as clues to their detention in the Gaza Strip. Nothing says, for the moment, if they will be deployed again in these army centers.
The hostages will then be redirected to different Israeli hospitals, depending on the severity of their possible injuries and their psychological state. Doctors, specialists in post-traumatic stress disorders, will closely monitor these ghosts. They will arrive slowly, since the agreement provides for releases in groups of three or four, during the first weeks of the truce.
While 98 families have had no news of their loved ones in captivity since October 7, 2023, the Forum of Families of Hostages and the Missing does not want to rejoice too quickly. “We will not rest until we see the last hostage return home,” he proclaims in a press release. Two out of three families will not experience this happiness during the first phase.
