By Rami Amichay
TEL AVIV (Reuters) – A ceasefire deal close to being agreed in Gaza has left the families of 98 hostages still held in the enclave facing a mix of hope, trepidation and, in some cases, anger as negotiators take the final step to seal the deal.
A draft proposal shared by Qatari mediators with Israel and Hamas calls for the release of 33 children, women and elderly men, as well as sick and wounded hostages, during the first phase of an extended ceasefire. Israel believes most of these hostages on the list are alive, but has not received confirmation from Hamas.
In exchange, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners would be freed and, if all goes well, negotiators will begin talking about freeing the remaining civilians, men and soldiers, as well as the bodies of dead hostages, as part of a package of measures to end the 15-month war.
“We cannot miss this moment, this is the last moment, we can save them,” said Hadas Calderon, whose husband Ofer and children Sahar and Erez were abducted along with about 250 others when Hamas-led gunmen invaded southern Israel on October 7 2023, killing 1,200 soldiers and civilians in the worst attack on Israel in its history.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has since lasted more than a year, killing more than 46,000 Palestinian fighters and civilians and devastating the narrow coastal enclave, but only a handful of hostages have escaped or been freed by the military.
Sahar and Erez were freed in the first hostage-for-prisoner swap in November 2023, and Ofer, 54, is among those who could be released in the first phase of the new deal.
The last time the children saw him, after 52 days of captivity, he was “in a very bad condition,” Hadaš said.
I know he is suffering, she said. “I dream about it. I feel it in my body. I feel him suffering. I feel it every moment. I feel guilty for every drink I have, shower or food because I know they don’t have it.”
Protesters have been gathering in Tel Aviv every week to call on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to negotiate a deal to bring the hostages home, and a deal has never seemed closer.
But after repeated disappointments, few are willing to celebrate until their loved ones return. For others, the deal is a cruel fraud that will leave their husbands, sons and brothers trapped in Gaza as negotiators begin another round of talks with their captors, Hamas.
‘SHE DOESN’T DESERVE TO ROT IN GAZA’
“The prime minister should make a deal that includes all the hostages, including my son, an American citizen and a hero of Israel,” said Ruby Chen, whose soldier son Itay was killed in a Hamas attack and whose body is being held in Gaza.
“He saved a lot of people, he doesn’t deserve to rot in Gaza,” Chen said outside Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem, where she joined protesters urging the prime minister to stand by the comprehensive deal.
Earlier, protesters in the Knesset harangued Defense Minister Israel Katz, who was attending a committee meeting, demanding that all hostages be returned home.
“You are here advertising the selection work as a humanitarian work,” said the representatives of Inbar Hayman, who was killed in Gaza, using a very emotional word that evokes images of the Nazi Holocaust, when camp inmates were selected for forced labor or gas chambers.
“What kind of absolute victory is the prime minister talking about when we can’t bury our daughter? Is there any greater humiliation for the country?”
Netanyahu met with representatives of some of the families of the hostages on Tuesday, but left many fearful about the prospect of freeing those who remain.
“I went into the meeting hoping to find out that we were talking about a deal for all the hostages, and I came out very worried because we’re not talking about a deal for all of them,” said Gil Dickmann, whose cousin Carmel Gat survived 11 months in Hamas captivity before he was killed in a tunnel in Gaza.
“We didn’t understand, why don’t you start negotiating the second phase now and get it over with?” he said. “We call on President Trump and all other world leaders to ensure that it does not stop after the first phase, that all the hostages get out.”
