Gaza war
‘Dreamed of coming home’: hostages to safety
A helicopter carrying hostages released by Hamas lands at Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Petah Tikva. photo
© Ohad Zwigenberg/AP/dpa
Israel breathes a sigh of relief. After 50 days in Hamas captivity, relatives of several hostages can hold their loved ones in their arms again. However, the fate of dozens more remains uncertain.
The four-year-old German was in the hands of terrorists for seven weeks of Hamas. Now Raz sits on a hospital bed in Israel, hugged by her father, mother and two-year-old sister. “I dreamed that I was coming home,” she says to her father Joni. He replies: “Now your dream has come true.” Clinic employees documented the emotional reunion.
Along with her mother Doron and sister Aviv, Raz was kidnapped to the Gaza Strip in the Islamist massacre on October 7th. At the weekend her father was finally able to hold her in his arms again. When the three were kidnapped while visiting their grandmother in the border area, he was more than a hundred kilometers away. He found out about the hostage-taking through a video that was later distributed in the Gaza Strip. Now the fear for the life of his loved ones is over.
200 people still detained
Raz, Doron and Aviv are among dozens of hostages released over the weekend as part of a deal between Israel and Hamas. Around 200 other abducted people are still being held in the Gaza Strip.
“I’m happy that I have my family back,” says the father in a video message. “But I’m not celebrating, I won’t be celebrating until the last of the hostages returns home.” It is unclear whether the remaining hostages are still alive or under what conditions they are on site. “There are still people with broken hearts,” says Joni, looking at the many families who are still hoping for a sign of life from their loved ones.
More hostages could be released in the coming days in return for the release of Palestinian prisoners. An agreement brokered by Qatar provides for a possible extension of the current four-day ceasefire to up to 10 days. In return, Israel expects the release of up to 80 abductees. It is uncertain whether an extension will come about.
Shaky agreement
How shaky the agreement is became clear at the weekend. Surprisingly, Hamas stopped the handover of around 20 hostages at the last minute on Saturday. Israel is not sufficiently fulfilling its part of the agreement, it was said. The country rejected this. After mediation by Qatar, the hostages were finally released hours later. These were terrible hours of uncertainty for relatives. Israel’s military spokesman spoke of psychological warfare by Hamas. “Nothing has happened as soon as it hasn’t happened,” he said of the releases and warned against trusting Hamas.
It is also unclear what the hostage-taking has done to the people in the long term. The returnees should initially stay in the hospital for treatment for several days. Special teams have also prepared there to deal with children. According to doctors, the hostages are physically fine so far. But Joni also knows that this can be misleading. “There are still difficult days ahead of me,” says Joni. He is determined to help his family “recover from the terrible trauma and loss we have suffered – for the future of my daughters and my wife.”
Relatives of those released report
Joni’s wife lost her mother in the Hamas massacre on October 7th, and his two daughters lost their grandmother. She is one of around 1,200 people murdered by terrorists that day. Her partner is still believed to be in the Gaza Strip. It is unclear whether the children and Joni’s wife knew about the death before their release – nor how much information they received about the massacre in the Gaza Strip. At first they didn’t want to appear in public.
According to an Israeli television station, relatives of other released people reported on the situation on site. “There were days when there were no supplies, so they only ate flatbread. They were not tortured, but there were days when they hardly had anything to eat, in the last few days they only ate very little rice,” a relative of nine-year-old Ohad told Channel 12. Ohad was released with his mother and grandmother on Friday. The boy’s grandfather remained in the hands of the terrorists.
A video shows Ohad running towards his father in the hospital. He holds him tightly and kisses him on the neck. In other shots, the boy sits surrounded by friends and eats ice cream. Even before his release, many Israelis knew Ohad’s story. While he was being held in the Gaza Strip, his ninth birthday was celebrated in Tel Aviv. Relatives put up a picture with 1,500 Rubik’s cubes. Now Ohad can pursue his hobby at home again. He solved his first Rubik’s cube after his release in the hospital in the presence of his family.