SDEROT, Israel: Hundreds of Israelis gathered in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, some cheering and some in tears, as a giant television screen broadcast the first glimpse of the first three hostages to be released under the Gaza ceasefire deal.
They watched as the three women, Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari, got out of a car in Gaza City and were handed over to Red Cross officials amid a surging crowd that was held back by Hamas gunmen.
The Israeli military shared video showing their families gathered in what appeared to be a military facility crying out in emotion as they watched footage of the handover to Israeli forces in Gaza before they were brought back into Israel.
“Their return today represents a beacon of light in the darkness, a moment of hope and triumph of the human spirit,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group that represents some hostage families said.
The release of the three women, the first of 33 hostages due to be freed from Gaza under phase one of the deal, is in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
The hostages were taken in one of the most traumatic episodes in Israel’s history, when Hamas gunmen attacked a string of communities around the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Oct 7, 2023, killing around 1200 civilians and soldiers and abducting 251 hostages; men, women, children and elderly.
But amid hope among many Israelis that the six-week ceasefire marks the beginning of the end to the war, there is deep unease about the uncertainty surrounding the remaining 94 hostages still held in the Gaza Strip.
“The ceasefire is something that I hope will work out,” said Tomer Mizrahi, in Sderot, a town in southern Israel within sight of Gaza that was attacked on Oct 7. “But as I know Hamas, you cannot even trust them one percent.”
