JERUSALEM (RNS) — Glued to the news, Israelis breathed a collective sigh of relief Sunday (Jan. 19), when Romi Golan, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher set foot in Israel, the first of the remaining hostages to be released by Hamas as part of a ceasefire deal finalized Friday.
The Red Cross transferred the three women from Gaza City to the outskirts of Gaza, where they were met by the Israeli military and then transported to Israel.
Thousands of people gathered in what has come to be known as “Hostage Square” in central Tel Aviv to watch live updates on a vast video screen. News that the hostages appeared to be in relatively good physical condition despite 15 months in captivity brought many to tears. Golan had been kidnapped from the Nova music festival, while Damari and Steinbrecher had both been taken from their homes in Kibbutz Kfar Aza during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on southern Israel, which left nearly 1,200 Israelis dead and 250 taken hostage.
Amid the joy Sunday were fears the ceasefire could collapse at any moment, leaving more than 90 hostages in Hamas captivity.
“Romi, Emily and Doron — so beloved and missed — an entire nation rejoices at your return,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog told the nation. “At this moment our hearts are with all the anxious and grieving families whose loved ones have not yet returned. We will not rest until we bring back all our sisters and brothers from the hell of captivity in Gaza, the living to their families and the fallen and murdered to be laid to rest in dignity.”
The day was bittersweet for the families of hostages who were not scheduled for release during the ceasefire’s first phase, expected to last six weeks. The hope of seeing their loved ones again remains postponed and dependent on all actors keeping to the terms of the deal.
The ceasefire includes the gradual release by Hamas of 33 hostages during the first phase of the deal. In exchange, Israel has agreed to release an estimated 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detained Gazans. The 90 Palestinian prisoners set to be released Sunday in exchange for the three Israeli hostages included 69 women and 21 teenage boys, none of them prominent detainees.
However, among the remaining Palestinian prisoners to be released over the course of the ceasefire are members of militant groups responsible for attacks that killed hundreds of Israelis. Also set to be released are 1,000 Palestinians detained since Oct. 7, if they are proven to have not participated in the attacks that day.
For relatives of the victims in those attacks, news that their killers are set to be freed under the deal has been difficult to accept.
Hillel Fuld, whose brother, Ari Fuld, was murdered by a Palestinian teenager in 2018, said his family had just learned his brother’s killer would be released in the coming weeks.
“There’s a lot of attention being paid to the hostages, and rightfully so. There’s a lot of attention being paid to the number of prisoners Israel is releasing,” Hillel wrote in a series of posts on social media. “There is zero attention being paid to the families whose lives these ‘Prisoners’ ruined. Let’s not forget who these people are. They are murderers who destroyed families.”
Ari Fuld, an American immigrant to Israel, was standing outside a supermarket when he was stabbed in the neck. He managed to chase down and shoot the assailant before he could stab a second victim. Ari Fuld died moments later. His killer recovered in an Israeli hospital before being convicted of murder.
Several posters of hostages displayed in Jerusalem. (Photo by Michele Chabin)
“These aren’t prisoners being released,” Hillel Fuld said. “These are monsters.”
Deganit Arush, a teacher in Jerusalem, also just learned one of the prisoners scheduled for release was responsible for the attack that left her brother dead. Ofer Ben-Ari, 42, was killed in 2015 by Israel border police, who were shooting at two men stabbing people in front of Jerusalem’s Old City. Ben-Ari was reported to have been trying to stop the men also when he was shot, along with the two attackers, one of whom died. One Israeli man died from stab wounds.
“I’m happy for the country that our hostages will be free, but it’s a heavy day,” said Arush as she sat on a bench with friends. Nearby, several posters of the hostages hung from lampposts and apartment terraces. “These terrorists murdered women and children,” she said.
“At least some will continue to be terrorists, just like Sinwar,” she added, referring to the late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, once an Israeli prisoner who was freed during a hostage release exchange and went on to organize the Hamas massacre.
Arush said she is comforted by the knowledge that “pidyon shvuyim,” the obligation to free Jews who are being held captive, is a central tenet of Judaism, rooted in the Torah. The Medieval rabbinical scholar Moses ben Maimon (Maimonides) said failing to redeem a captive is morally equivalent to being an accomplice to murder.
Despite the near consensus among Israelis that the hostages must be freed even at the cost of releasing prisoners with blood on their hands, hundreds of far-right protestors demonstrated against the deal Monday. They insisted Hamas is far from defeated and the prisoners’ return poses a threat to Israeli security.
On Sunday, Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right minister of national security, and members of his Otzma Yehudit Party resigned from the government to protest the implementation of the ceasefire.
Rachel Sharansky Danziger, an Israeli educator and writer, said she is trying maintain her own equilibrium.
“The emotional complexity and storm of the last few days is intense. People are feeling everything from joy and relief to rage and anger, and families are asking if their sons fell for nothing while some families are waiting to hug their daughters, and other families are asking, ‘Why are our kids not on the initial list?’” said Danziger, whose father, Natan Sharansky, was imprisoned by Russia for many years.
“I don’t want to give Hamas anything beyond what they have already taken from us, and what we have agreed to give them in return for precious people. I’m not going into whether this was the right deal or wrong deal. The government made this decision. All I can do is minimize the reach the terrorists have by not letting the highs and lows of their manufacturing control me today,” Danziger said.