Families and friends of hostages held by Hamas call for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to bring them home during a demonstration in Tel Aviv on November 21. Photo / AP
Families and friends of hostages held by Hamas call for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to bring them home during a demonstration in Tel Aviv on November 21. Photo / AP
Uncertainty over the agreement — including over who would be among at least 50 hostages set to be released, and whether more would follow — wasstraining the emotions of relatives who have campaigned for the release of their loved ones in the 46 days since they were abducted during the Hamas assault on southern Israel.
Israel has said that about 240 people were taken hostage to Gaza, and it remained unclear which of them would be released under the ceasefire deal announced overnight. Ceasefires in previous conflicts between Israel and Hamas have proven fragile.
Hours after the deal was announced, families said they had received no official information from Israeli authorities. The government said in a statement that women and children would be released, raising the possibility that families could be separated — for example, by leaving behind fathers who were taken captive with their children. At least 36 Israeli civilians aged 18 and younger are being held in the Gaza Strip along with 13 of their mothers.
“I am feeling like yesterday and the day before, only worse,” said Yael Engel Lichi, the aunt of Ofir Engel, a 12th grader from Jerusalem who was kidnapped on October 7 from Kibbutz Be’eri, where he was staying with his girlfriend, Yuval Sharabi, 17, and her family.
People have been calling to congratulate the family since Tuesday night, Engel Lichi said on Wednesday morning. But, she added, “We don’t know anything. No official has been in touch to tell us anything.
“We are on the point of collapse,” she added.
An installation in Tel Aviv with supportive messages for the hostages. Photo / Amit Elkayam, The New York Times
Ofir Engel was taken hostage along with his girlfriend’s father, Yossi Sharabi. Sharabi’s brother was also abducted in Be’eri and his wife and children were killed. A nephew was killed at a music festival taking place nearby.
“Imagine the feelings within that family,” Engel Lichi said of the Sharabis. “It’s hard. It breaks you a bit more and a bit more.”
For others, the announcement of the deal was the first good news they had heard since October 7.
“We are full of hope,” said Aharon Brodutch, whose sister-in-law, Hagar Brodutch, 40, and her three young children, Ofri, 10, Yuval, 8, and Uriah, 4, were snatched from Kibbutz Kfar Azza. “At least for our family, it’s supposed to end,” he said, “but then we’ve got to worry for the rest of the hostages.”
Avichai Brodutch, Hagar’s husband and the father of the three children, began a vigil a week after their abduction outside the military and government headquarters in Tel Aviv, feeling that the country was more focused on revenge against Hamas than freeing the hostages. He turned up with the family dog and a homemade sign that read, “My Family is in Gaza.” He was soon joined by masses of supporters.
But for all the hope raised by the news of a deal to release some of the hostages, there remained deep concern around the mental and physical state of the children among them.
Several of Alana Zeitchik’s relatives were among those taken on October 7: Her cousin, Sharon Cunio, and her cousin’s husband, David Cunio, were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz with their 3-year-old twin daughters, Emma and Julie. Another cousin, Danielle Alony, who was visiting the kibbutz, and her 5-year-old daughter, Amelia, were abducted as well.
Zeitchik called every piece of new information a welcome breadcrumb. But she also fears for what her youngest cousins have experienced.
“The damage that has been done to these children, this suffering and pain, it doesn’t end with their release,” she said, adding, “Their return is shrouded in a lot of pain and trauma.”
Some families of older male hostages who were not expected to be among the first to be released expressed frustration and despair.
Shay Benjamin, whose father Ron, 52, was taken captive while on an early morning bike ride near Be’eri, said she had put her life on pause since her father was abducted, and she worries that there is no end in sight. Noting that it took almost 50 days to reach this deal, she said: “Just think how much time it’ll take them to do another deal for the men.”
Benjamin said she would be glad if the children were released, but added: “Everyone deserves to come home.”
