Moment of joy in Tel Aviv. Thousands of people gathered in Hostage Square on Monday, October 13, to celebrate the release of the last 20 living Israeli hostages held until then in the Gaza Strip.
Tears and cries of joy resounded in the streets of the capital when seeing images broadcast on a giant screen of former hostage Matan Zangauker speaking on the phone with his mother, on day 738 of his captivity in the Gaza Strip.
“Welcome home,” the ministry wrote in a series of X messages with portraits of the first hostages: Matan Angrest, Gali and Ziv Berman, Guy Gilboa-Dalal, Omri Miran, Eitan Mor, Alon Ohel.
In fact, the Israeli authorities had announced shortly before 10:00 a.m. (local time) the return of the first seven hostages still alive. Another 13 were returned to the Red Cross in the southern Gaza Strip and handed over to the Israeli army.
As of today, 48 people, including 20 alive, remain held captive by Hamas in Gaza. The hostages released, on the fourth day of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, were kidnapped on October 7, 2023 during the bloody attack carried out by the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israeli soil, which triggered a devastating Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.
“It’s surreal”
In Tel Aviv, many hug each other, while others keep a straight face listening to the song Habayta (“at home”, in Hebrew), played on a loop over the speakers. The emotion is palpable. Some carried portraits of the hostages freed in the morning, others carried Israeli flags.
“We were waiting for this moment but there is still sadness for those who do not return and for the almost 2,000 dead of the war, two years of madness that are ending… But it is a beautiful day, the one we have been waiting for for two years,” Ronny Edry, a 54-year-old teacher, describes to AFP.
“It’s surreal. Because until (the release of the hostages) happens, we wait, we are afraid to be happy. Until the last moment, it can always stop,” Johanna, present in the hostage square in Tel Aviv, confesses to BFMTV.
“There it is, all the hostages have left Gaza, amen!” the Israeli rejoices.
“Until the last hostage, people will be in the streets and we will all be with the families. Dead or alive, it doesn’t matter, a hostage is a hostage. They must return home so that the families can start crying,” says Johanna.
If all the living hostages were released in the morning, the bodies of the 28 dead hostages would have to be returned to Israel this Monday afternoon. According to the spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an “international organization”, provided for within the framework of the US plan, must help locate the remains of the dead hostages who will not be released on Monday.
This program is likely to change as the modalities for the return of Palestinian hostages continue to evolve. Hamas also made it known that it did not agree with the names of the Palestinian prisoners who would be released by Israel in exchange.
This Monday morning, buses left the Israeli prison of Ofer, in the occupied West Bank, where Palestinian prisoners are held, observed an AFP journalist present at the scene.
Donald Trump, national hero
At the center of negotiations between Israel and Hamas, President Donald Trump becomes a true national hero. In the middle of the crowd, Israeli and American flags fly from buildings or cover the backs of those present.
A huge thank you to Donald Trump was revealed on a Tel Aviv beach, accompanied by the Israeli flag and the profile of the American president. The latter arrived on Israeli soil in the morning.
He headed to the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, where he will give a speech, according to an AFP journalist present at the scene. “It is a great honor for me, a great day, a wonderful day. A new beginning,” he wrote in the Knesset guest book, under the gaze of Parliament Speaker Amir Ohana and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
On the steps of the Israeli parliament, numerous bright orange caps with the inscription “Trump, the president of peace” were seen on the heads of several people who came to attend the American president’s remarks.
A “peace summit” will follow in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, chaired by Donald Trump and Abdel Fattah al-Sissi. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Emmanuel Macron will be present. The head of state celebrated the release of the hostages on Day X and considered that “peace is becoming possible for Israel, Gaza and the region.”
Source: BFM TV
