Families of Israeli hostages erupt into joy as freedom nears for captives
People celebrate following the announcement that Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of a peace plan to pause the fighting, at a plaza known as Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, Israel. Picture: Emilio Morenatti/AP
For two years, the central Tel Aviv area that has become known as Hostages Square has been a place of anguish and despair, but on Thursday it turned into a scene of celebration.
Families and supporters gathered to rejoice as news spread that a deal had been struck to free Israeli captives held in Gaza.
A champagne bottle was popped open to cheers from the crowd. Sweets were doled out.
Tears of joy mixed with laughter and long embraces as the news sunk in: the struggle to free Israeli captives held in Gaza appears to finally be coming to a close.
“Matan is coming home!” yelled Einav Zangauker, arguably the most prominent face of the two-year-long campaign to free the hostages, referring to her captive son.
Her arms raised to the sky, she shouted out “Thank you!” as a crowd of supporters, families of hostages, and former hostages freed earlier in the war filled the square.
“I want to smell his smell,” she told reporters of her son.
“If I have one dream, it is seeing Matan sleep in his own bed.”
After their loved ones were kidnapped in Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack that sparked the war, the families of hostages have been thrust into a thankless battle for their freedom.
They have travelled the world meeting leaders, squared off against Israeli politicians sceptical of their cause, pleaded tirelessly for the release of their relatives from a nightmare that would not end.
Until Thursday.
After US President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas had struck a deal that is meant to free the remaining hostages, the tension in the square began to lift.
Israel says that of the 250 initially taken captive, 20 of the hostages that remain in Gaza are alive and 28 are dead.
The countdown flashing the number of days, minutes and seconds since the harrowing October morning that upended their lives, a fixture in the square, still beamed down on to the families and their supporters.
But rather than dragging on to what felt like eternity, the ticking seconds now pushed closer to the hostages’ impending release.
“For two years I have been fighting for the life of my man,” Rebecca Bohbot, whose husband Elkana was taken hostage on October 7, wrote on Instagram.
“This is the moment that a little boy will return to hug his father, a moment when my family comes back to life.”
Central to the celebrations on Thursday was Mr Trump himself, whom many families of hostages and many Israelis credit with pressing their leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to agree to a deal.
A person donned a costume of Mr Trump and waved American flags, families expressed effusive thanks for the US leader and some chanted that he deserved a Nobel Peace Prize.
But above all else, the sadness that has settled over Israel since October 7 2023 began to dissipate as the square came to life under a night sky.
The darkness of that day has never really left the minds of Israelis, with Hostages Square a place where the captives, their families and all Israelis can now feel some relief.
“I get chills all over from head to toe,” said Omer Wenkert, a former captive freed earlier in the war, of the news of a deal.
“I can’t even imagine the amount of joy we will be able to feel, as a nation, finally.”
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