It was the moment the Israelis had been longing for. On Sunday afternoon, 471 long days after they were seized by Hamas in the darkest hour of Israel's history, three young hostages made the arduous journey from captivity in Gaza to freedom in their homeland.
The release of the three women – Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher – marked the beginning of a multi-phase deal that offers a chance to end the brutal war in Gaza and hope for freedom for dozens of other hostages after more than 15 months. torment for them, their families and the nation.
But the Israelis' joy and relief at the release is laced with anxiety about what the coming weeks will reveal. Israeli officials believe at least half of the remaining 94 hostages are dead. And many doubt the fragile truce will last long enough for everyone to return.
“There's a dichotomy between this state of mind where this could be the last day.” [of life] for their spouse or child – and the possibility of the same person sleeping in the next room next week,” says Udi Goren, whose family is waiting for the return of the body of his cousin Tal Haimi, who was killed on October 7 and then taken to Gaza.
“I don't think words can describe the immense difference between these two emotions.
For the past 15 months, the fate of the hostages has been burned into Israel's national consciousness. Their faces from happier times have been plastered and re-plastered on buildings and billboards from Haifa to Eilat. The details of their lives fill the daily news. Rallies demanding government action to secure their release became a weekly fixture.
But as the clock ticked toward a truce this weekend, alongside hopes that at least some would finally be freed, there were reminders of how volatile the situation remains. Missiles from Yemen set off the terrifying wail of air raid sirens across the country. In Tel Aviv, a Palestinian stabbed an Israeli before being shot dead by a passerby.
Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes continued to pound Gaza until Sunday morning, bringing the death toll in the fractured enclave to more than 140 since the deal was announced last week, according to Palestinian officials.
“There is a glimmer of hope, but it's not light at the end of the tunnel,” said Daria Giladi as she and a friend joined a rally in support of the hostages in central Jerusalem on Saturday night.
“You're happy that people are coming home, you're happy that the war is over, if only for a little while. But there is still a long way to go. It is only a third of the hostages who are due to return [in the first six-week phase of the deal]. So it's not enough.”
Even for the relatives of the 33 hostages who are to be released in the first phase of the deal – when children, women, the sick and the elderly are freed – the uncertainty is acute.
Sharone Lifschitz's parents, Yocheved and Oded, lifelong supporters of coexistence with the Palestinians, were both detained on October 7. Yocheved was freed 17 days later. But the family knows nothing about Oded's fate. When Yocheved returned, she told her family that he was dead. But the hostages released a few weeks later in the November 2023 ceasefire said they saw him alive.
And so for the past 15 months, the family has waited in hope for Oded's safe return while grappling with what it would mean if the frail octogenarian, shot in the wrist during a Hamas attack, had survived so long in Hamas captivity. .
“We're all fighting for him believing that until we know otherwise, we want him back.” If his destiny and his strength hold and he finds a way to survive against all odds, then we look forward to seeing him,” Lifschitz says with a catchy voice.
“[But] he saw the destruction of everything he had fought for. And then it had to be in the hands of the people who caused it [that destruction]. And he had to survive somehow when his health is not strong and he is injured. It's very hard to wish that on anyone – let alone the father you love so much.'
For families whose relatives are not expected to be freed until the second and third phases of the deal – when the remaining living male hostages are returned and then the bodies of those who died – the uncertainty is greater.
When a previous seven-day ceasefire and hostage-for-prisoner exchange took place in November 2023, freeing 110 of the 250 hostages initially held, many in Israel hoped that this would lead to more such deals and that the remaining hostages could be brought back. soon too.
But what followed was 14 months of false dawns as Israel and Hamas repeatedly failed to strike a deal and the number of living hostages dwindled steadily. Claims by far-right ministers in Benjamin Netanyahu's government that they have repeatedly scuttled the deal have outraged relatives of the hostages. And it left those with relatives not to be released until the second or third stage, fearing their time would never come.
Among them is Herut Nimrodi, whose then 18-year-old son Tamir was seized in his pyjamas, barefoot and without glasses, from his military base near the Erez crossing in the early hours of the Hamas attack.
Nimrodi knows the exact time – 06:49 – of their last message, when Tamir contacted her and said missiles were landing at the base. The family found out he had been detained when one of her daughters saw a video on Instagram. But in the months since, they have had no sign of his condition. They celebrated his 20th birthday in November, not knowing “if he had reached 19.”“.
“I know my son's name is not on the list. [for release in the first phase]because he is a soldier and we are scared,” says Nimrodi. “I'm not only worried that we won't get to the next stage. But also that [once the first group have been released] lobby [for further releases] it will be much smaller because there will be fewer hostages and it will be only men.”
It is also common knowledge that even for those who return, returning will only be the first step. Lifschitz says her mother is handling her return from prison “better than most of us.”
But for those who have spent more than 15 months in captivity, the process is likely to be much more difficult. Hostages who had previously been released spoke of being kept in cages or in complete darkness, drugged and beaten, and in some cases suffered or witnessed sexual abuse.
Hagai Levine, a doctor working with the Hostage Families Support Forum, told a press conference last week that he expects “every aspect [hostages’] physical and mental health will be affected”. “Time is of the essence – recovery will be a long and painful process,” he said.
But for all the anxiety about the challenges ahead, the family is desperate for the process to begin. “Everyone in Israel – and of course families – need closure. We are a wounded society right now. We are traumatized. We haven't even started post-traumatic yet,” says Nimrodi. “We have to heal. And seeing hostages return is a healing process for us as a community.”
Lifschitz agrees. “We know that many of the hostages are not alive and we will have several funerals and shivas. [mourning periods] sit,” he says. “But at least there will be some closure. We will know. At least we'll know.”