Cheers and weeping as Israelis watch Gaza hostages return

By Avi Ohayon

SDEROT, Israel (Reuters) - Hundreds of Israelis gathered in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, some cheering and some in tears, as a giant television screen broadcast the first glimpse of the first three hostages to be released under the Gaza ceasefire deal.

They watched as the three women - Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari - got out of a car in Gaza City and were handed over to Red Cross officials amid a surging crowd that was held back by Hamas gunmen.

The Israeli military shared video showing their families gathered in what appeared to be a military facility crying out in emotion as they watched footage of the handover to Israeli forces in Gaza before they were brought back into Israel.

"Their return today represents a beacon of light in the darkness, a moment of hope and triumph of the human spirit," the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group that represents some hostage families said.

The release of the three women, the first of 33 hostages due to be freed from Gaza under phase one of the deal, is in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

The hostages were taken in one of the most traumatic episodes in Israel's history, when Hamas gunmen attacked a string of communities around the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 civilians and soldiers and abducting 251 hostages - men, women, children and elderly.

But amid hope among many Israelis that the six-week ceasefire marks the beginning of the end to the war, there is deep unease about the uncertainty surrounding the remaining 94 hostages still held in the Gaza Strip.

"The ceasefire is something that I hope will work out," said Tomer Mizrahi, in Sderot, a town in southern Israel within sight of Gaza that was attacked on Oct. 7. "But as I know Hamas, you cannot even trust them one percent."

Images of Hamas police emerging on to the streets as the ceasefire took effect underscored how far Israel remains from its originally stated war aims of destroying the Islamist group that has ruled in Gaza since 2007.

"I'm torn," said Dafna Sharabi from Beit Aryeh-Ofarim, a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank. "On the one hand there's a ceasefire to strengthen the forces, to rest from all the madness, on the other, maybe it's not the time," she said.

"They should have been eliminated, wiped out," she said. "My son was on reserve duty for a year over there, a whole year, and he sees all the Gazans returning, Hamas returning its forces to all the places he fought in."

MEN OF MILITARY AGE NOT IN THE DEAL

After 15 months of war, Gaza lies largely in ruins. Israel's campaign has killed almost 47,000 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian health ministry and displaced most of the two million people who live in the enclave.

But for many in Israel, the war will not be over while Hamas still stands and there have been a series of rallies opposing the ceasefire as a sell-out that abandons men of military age taken captive, who are not in the first batch of 33 hostages.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has already resigned and his fellow hardliner Bezalel Smotrich has also opposed the deal and said he has been reassured that it is not the end of the war.

The Israel Democracy Institute said its latest Israeli Voice Index, conducted just before the deal was agreed, found 57.5% of Israelis in favour of a comprehensive agreement that would see all hostages back in return for ending the war. An additional 12% supported a partial hostage release in return for a temporary ceasefire.

Amid the mix of emotions, for some, a sense of exhaustion outweighed any concerns about the future.

"We have been waiting for this for a long time. We wanted it to be an absolute victory, I hope we get that absolute victory, if not now then later," said Shlomi Elkayam who owns a business in Sderot. "There are pros and cons, but in the end we are tired of it all. We are tired and we want everyone here at home."

(Writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by Ros Russell)