In the heart of Tel Aviv, several hundred people waited in the plaza now called Hostages Square. As darkness fell the mood was melancholic but hopeful as people waited for a confirmation that 13 women and children held by Hamas had been freed as planned. Then came a cheer as news of their release was confirmed.
People sang Shabbat or old folklore songs as they waited outside the Museum of Art, where among the most poignant displays was an empty dinner table, surrounded by 240 empty seats, representing each of the missing hostages, not just the handful in the slow process of coming home.
“I’m just looking at these pictures and seeing that Israeli children and women and whoever are coming back to their families. I mean, it’s amazing for us,” Gil Dickmann told the BBC, even though his cousin Carmel Gat was not going to be one of those released in the first wave.
Gradually the names of those being released began to filter out, their ages ranging from two to 85. First confirmed was Adina Moshe, 72, who was captured from the Nir Oz kibbutz, where her husband Sa’id was killed on 7 October, the day of Hamas’s sudden and deadly raid across the Gaza border fence that Israel’s military had said was impenetrable.
At least five others released came from the same kibbutz, the place hardest hit on the first day of the war. A quarter of Nir Oz’s original population of 427 had been killed or taken hostage – 40 were murdered and a further 79 kidnapped, including 16 of the 32 children.
Also released were Daniel Aloni and her five-year-old daughter Emilia. They had been visiting Nir Oz to see Daniel’s sister when they were captured. That morning, on 7 October, her last message to her family warned that she might not survive as Hamas fighters had entered the house she was in. But now she was heading back to Israel via military helicopters specially prepared to take people home.
In another case, three members of the same family – a boy, his mother and grandmother – were released, although the family was still divided. Ruthy Munder, 78, her daughter Keren, 54, and her son Ohad, 9, were all released after being held hostage for 49 days. But Avraham Munder, Ruthy’s husband, was not with them as no men are being released.
Among those waiting in the square was Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s war cabinet, and perhaps the country’s most popular politician. A woman approached Gantz and told him “protect us, you are the only one who can protect us, we trust you” and he responded by hugging her. Meanwhile, the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, watched the situation unfold at a nearby military control centre.
On Friday evening, the British niece of Ditza Heiman, 84, a retired social worker and widow taken from Nir Oz, said she was feeling hopeful despite the fact her aunt was not among the 13 hostages released. The last time anyone heard from Heiman, a mother of four, was at about 4pm on 7 October when a Hamas fighter answered her phone.
Her niece, who did not want to be named, said that the moment of release, however positive, would just be a first step.
“There is a great deal that we still don’t know, we don’t know what the physical or mental condition of these people is. We recognise that even for these families, this is not a simple happy ending; there may be children who have been separated from their fathers, and elderly women separated from their elderly husbands, but it certainly brings joy and hope.”
The carefully choreographed release process saw the group of 13 – and, in a previously unexpected development, a Filipino and 10 Thai workers – released from Gaza and taken by the Red Cross in a single white coach to Egypt.
From there they were taken to Israeli teams ready to perform medical examinations – and to be questioned by Shin Bet security officials hoping to gain more information from their captors.
In most cases, the released hostages were then expected to have a first video or phone call with their families before flying to Israel for a full medical check and, then, a face to face reunion with their relatives. Soldiers involved in the rescue process were instructed, Israeli officials said, not to immediately tell children if their parents were dead.
If youngsters were to ask, the soldiers were instructed to say that their job was to bring them to “a safe place” in Israel where “significant people” would be able to answer their questions.
