Israel hostage families on roller coaster of hope and despair as Gaza deal reached

By Rami Amichay

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza gathered on Wednesday in the Tel Aviv square where they have held rallies for more than a year, as news trickled out of the agreement struck with Hamas to halt the fighting in Gaza and bring the hostages home.

After more than 15 months in Hamas captivity, the first of an initial group of 33 hostages is expected to be returned to Israel on Sunday before negotiations on the release of the remaining 65 begin around two weeks later.

The first group, made up of children, women, men over 50 as well as the wounded and sick, will be released gradually over the coming six weeks, but it was still unclear who on the list is alive and who is dead.

Bring Them Home, a group representing hostage families, issued a statement expressing "overwhelming joy and relief" at the agreement but for many, the primary feeling was one of exhaustion and doubt as they waited to learn the fate of their loved ones.

"It's a roller coaster," said Yosi Shnaider, a cousin of Shiri Bibas who was taken with her husband Yarden and children Ariel and Kfir, who were 4 years and 10 months old during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

"We don't know if they're on the list, if they're going to come back in the first phase, if they're alive, if not. We actually don't know anything. It's scary," he said.

The fact that the hostages would be returned in small groups over many weeks, leaving families waiting, left a shadow over the hope that their relatives could be back with them.

"The families cannot stand it anymore," he said. "I have no words to describe how difficult it is."

The Bibas family are among the highest profile hostages still held in Gaza. Ariel and Kfir are the only children left after an earlier deal in November 2023 that returned more than 100 of the 251 people Israel says were seized in the attack by Hamas fighters who killed some 1,200 soldiers and civilians on the deadliest day in Israel's history.

Video showing Hamas gunmen abducting Yarden Bibas on Oct 7 was broadcast on Israeli media last year and the fate of the family has gripped Israeli and world attention as the war in Gaza has raged around them.

'THIS IS HELL'

The deal which may bring an end to the war came after months of on-and-off negotiations and heavy pressure from the administrations of U.S. President Joe Biden and of incoming President Donald Trump, who promised "hell to pay" if the hostages were not returned.

Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed more than 46,000 Palestinian fighters and civilians, Palestinian officials say, and devastated the coastal enclave, creating a humanitarian crisis for more than 2 million people trapped in the rubble.

Hamas gave its agreement on Wednesday, and the Israeli cabinet is expected to back it on Thursday. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar cut short a European visit to attend a security cabinet vote.

"This is the right move. This is an important move," Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in a statement. "There is no greater moral, human, Jewish or Israeli obligation than to bring our sons and daughters back to us."

Surveys show that most Israelis support a deal to get back the 98 Israeli and foreign hostages still in Gaza and end a war that has left Israel increasingly isolated internationally and taken an increasing toll on the military.

"I think that that's amazing, we've been waiting so long for our hostages to finally come home, praying, hoping, and now it's finally happening. And we're so excited," said 18 year-old Ariella Cohen as she sat with friends in a Jerusalem cafe.

But the deal has also aroused strong opposition from hardline nationalist members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government as well as from some of the hostage families themselves.

Hardliners say it will undermine Israeli security in the longer term, while relatives of male hostages, including both serving soldiers and men of military age, fear they may never be returned given the complications of negotiating with Hamas, which remains in Gaza despite losing thousands of fighters and most of its top leaders.

"This is not an agreement, this is just hell," said Daniel Algarat, whose brother Itzhak Elgarat, 69, was abducted from Nir Oz kibbutz on Oct. 7.

"Trump promised us hell and we are in hell," he said. "The government doesn't have a mandate to bring just part of them, they need to bring all of them back."

"My brother is going to come in the first stage but we don't know what his condition is, we don't know if he is alive, we know nothing."

(Writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by Howard Goller)