738 days of anguish end: Israel embraces last living hostages
After more than two years of bitter anguish and a seemingly endless war, Israel erupted in unbridled joy as the final living hostages were reunited with their families and the remains of four dead captives were handed over.
For 738 days, an entire nation held its breath. Two years of bitter anguish, of families clinging to a hope that seemed to slip by with every passing dawn, of time running out and a war over Gaza’s labyrinthine tunnels that seemed endless in its cycle of carnage.
But on Monday, under cloudless skies in Tel Aviv, the rarest of gifts arrived: an ending. Public squares overflowed with people. Strangers embraced, veteran news anchors wept, and a nation, held captive by grief, became swept up in unbridled joy as the last of the living hostages were finally reunited with their families.
“You’re coming home,” Einav Zangauker cried into her phone. It was her first conversation with son Matan since Hamas militants dragged him to Gaza from Nir Oz on October 7, 2023.
In a rush of words, she said what the entire nation had been longing to hear: “There’s no war. It’s over. I love you. I’m waiting for you.”
In a region beset by chaos, the hostages’ liberation unfolded with surprising precision, brokered by US President Donald Trump who touched down in Israel just as the first captives began tasting their freedom.
At 8am local time, seven of the men walked free: Matan Angrest, 22; twin brothers Gali and Ziv Berman, 28; Alon Ohel, 24; Eitan Mor, 25; Omri Miran, 48; and Guy Gilboa-Dalal, 24.
Two hours later, 13 more followed them out of the nightmare: Bar Kupershtein, 23; Evyatar David, 24; Yosef-Chaim Ohana, 25; Segev Kalfon, 27; Avinatan Or, 32; Elkana Bohbot, 36; Rom Braslavski, 21; Maxim Herkin, 37; Nimrod Cohen, 20; Matan Zangauker, 25; Eitan Horn, 38; and brothers Ariel, 28, and David Cunio, 35.
Gaunt and pale from years underground, some hostages spoke to their families via FaceTime while still in Gaza, their masked Hamas captors appearing on screen with them. Evyatar David – last glimpsed emaciated and digging his own grave in a proof of life video, released by Hamas in August – briefly participated in a television interview alongside a Hamas militant, a surreal moment that underscored the extraordinary nature of the conflict.
Hours later, the remains of four dead hostages were handed over before the IDF escorted them to the National Institute for Forensic Medicine for identification.
Earlier on Monday, Hamas said it would return the bodies of Bipin Joshi, Yossi Sharabi, Guy Illouz, and Daniel Peretz.
As the day unfolded, words of gratitude streamed forth from families who had endured the unbearable. Dignity prevailed.
“We want to thank the people of Israel from the bottom of our hearts for standing by us in the darkest hours and on days when this moment seemed like a distant and impossible wish,” said the family of Omri Miran, torn from his home in the kibbutz of Nahal Oz on October 7. “This moment today is not a personal victory but a victory of an entire people.”
From the family of Eitan Mor, abducted while working security at the Nova festival, a sentiment that honoured Israel’s security forces, many of whom sacrificed their lives to bring home the hostages: “We want to thank them and embrace with a strong hug the bereaved families, the widows, the orphans, and the wounded. Only thanks to your sacrifice are we embracing Eitan today.”
And from the family of Matan Angrest, who was reportedly starved and tortured in captivity: “We can breathe again,” they said. “We salute with awe and respect the IDF soldiers, the heroes in uniform, the heads and members of the security forces who left everything and risked their lives.”
The homecoming bore no resemblance to the dangers and theatre of previous exchanges. Gone were the baying crowds, the spectacles and signing ceremonies that had endangered the captives and outraged the Israeli public. Instead, the hostages were discreetly moved from undisclosed locations in Gaza to Red Cross collection points, then handed to Israeli military officials in the territory.
The passage to freedom continued from Gaza to a military base in Re’im, Israel, where the families waited. After medical assessments, helicopters carried the hostages to hospitals across Israel where the real journey home would begin.
The nation bore witness at every moment. Israelis lined highways to create corridors of welcome and salute.
But nowhere was the emotion more palpable than at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square – a plaza of blue and white flags where hundreds of thousands of people had assembled from dawn.
Just days earlier, nearly half a million people packed the site to celebrate the announcement of the ceasefire in Gaza and the return of the hostages.
But the price of freedom, accepted by Israelis, was known to be steep: 20 living hostages for up to 2000 Palestinian prisoners, including 250 men affiliated with Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Fatah – all of them serving life sentences.
As Monday morning continued, they boarded buses outside Israeli prisons, their own freedom contingent on the safe arrival of the hostages. That operation concluded around midday, with a further 28 deceased captives scheduled for return over the coming days.
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