Emotional relatives wept and celebrated today after their loved ones were finally returned to Israel after more than two years in Hamas captivity
For the past week you could feel the rising tension, the excitement and fear of Israelis In Hostage Square as they waited for the release of loved ones and fellow citizens.[1]
Few people in the iconic square in central Tel Aviv were not directly affected by the war, having lost relatives and friends[2], no matter how distant, and were awaiting news of their release.
It was palpable from dawn this morning on Monday as the streets filled with people gravitating towards the square to witness the dramatic releases on huge screens.[3]
READ MORE: Hostage release LIVE: Trump hails ‘great day’ as 20 Israeli prisoners released by Hamas[4]READ MORE: Hamas hostages list in full as Israeli prisoners released from Gaza during peace deal[5]
The first seven hostages were handed over to the Red Cross and then the IDF – and then they were finally safely over the border and into the arms of desperately emotional relatives.
This was the first moment Israel[6] started to believe it was happening.
As cries and cheers went up waves of emotion rippled through the square in recognition these first few were safe and you felt the significance of the moment.
History was being made and on cue Air Force One descended over Tel Aviv and landed at Ben Gurion airport, all beamed on a huge screen for Tel Aviv to see.
Cries of ‘Thank you Mr President’ rang out through loud speakers booming across downtown Tel Aviv and it felt for an uncomfortable moment like a jamboree far from reality.
Back to the reality of today in Hostage Square it was beautiful and heart-warming to witness the jubilance over the safety of the hostages and that their war-time physical suffering is, to a degree, over.
They are safe in the arms of loved ones and under the treatment of trained medics although psychologically they may never recover from what they have suffered.
Some sense of this was in the face of a few Israelis in Hostage Square, standing alone, not cheering, grief etched on their faces.
These were likely people whose sons, daughters, parents, friends are coming home in body bags or perhaps not for months or at all as their remains are destroyed by explosions.
This was a moment for Israel to celebrate, a joyous relief but it was also tinged with bitter sadness that some of their brothers and sisters will never return.
And then 45 miles south of here, along the sun-baked Mediterranean coastline, Gazans were returning to memories of homes and lives now reduced to dust and rubble.
As an outsider reporting on what has happened here for more than two years, a war that has shattered millions of lives forever, thoughts turned to Gaza too.
There was Belal Jadallah, the ‘godfather of Palestinian journalism’ who died weeks into the war, his car targeted by an Israeli[7] missile as he drove across Gaza.
A friend and colleague who worked as a fixer, he had travelled to London in recent years and visited the Daily Mirror[8]’s London offices.
He was not Hamas. Myself and Daily Mirror photographers Andy Stenning and Phil Coburn had worked with Belal inside Gaza a few times.
On one occasion Israel had seen fit to allow him passage out of Gaza to travel to the UK and I wonder if we will ever know about the truth of what he was killed as the war got underway. There has to be room for sadness and sympathy for devastated families such as his too.
The partying scenes in Hostage Square, the blaring music and loud hailer declarations the 20 have been finally freed into the safety of Israel were wonderful to witness, for now.
Of course it is an amazing experience to witness and celebrate the end of a brutal war which has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, triggered by Hamas’ vile atrocity on southern Israel.
On October 7 2023 1,200 died, slaughtered under the instruction of one man, now slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who ordered his fighters to act out unbelievable horror on Israelis.
We now know he instructed them to take pictures and film themselves killing and maiming those they attacked on October 7 telling them: “These images must cause a wave of horror and fear among the enemy.
“Unit commanders must be explicitly instructed to cause these effects deliberately, to film them and to broadcast the footage as quickly as possible, soldiers stomping on heads, point blank shooting, slaughtering some with knives…” and it goes on.
That letter he wrote was apparently found in Gaza and shows the depravity with which he delighted in planning October 7.
He would have intensely hated today’s joyous celebrations. And seeing what is hopefully an end to the war, he would have hated the peace too.
But he must have known the Israeli reaction would be to destroy Gaza as he had known it too. His punishment for all of that may be that today has changed the Middle East. And that unlike many of the experts believe, the region can move on.
Many Israelis I have met do have room for thoughts about the Palestinians, their neighbours and the suffering they have experienced.
Perhaps once the music stops both sides will have room to reconcile with the other or at least move towards acceptance they have to co-exist.
Many doubt it can be done and they have told me so repeatedly. But many of those voices, British military and security experts, never thought these 20 Israeli hostages would ever get out of Gaza alive either.
And yet they did.
References
- ^ waited for the release of loved ones and fellow citizens. (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ lost relatives and friends (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ dramatic releases on huge screens. (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ Hostage release LIVE: Trump hails ‘great day’ as 20 Israeli prisoners released by Hamas (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ Hamas hostages list in full as Israeli prisoners released from Gaza during peace deal (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ Israel (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ Israeli (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ Mirror (www.mirror.co.uk)