Joy, anticipation as hostages & prisoners freed

TEL AVIV: Freed Israeli hostages and their family and friends bounded into one another's arms Monday, beaming and crying with joy at the end of the captives' two-year ordeal in Gaza.

Wrapped in blue and white Israeli flags, those returning waved and smiled as military helicopters landed them back in Israel, after militants freed the remaining 20 living hostages from Palestine under the ceasefire deal.Videos filmed and released by the Israeli military captured some of the raw emotion of the reunions. "My life, you are my life... you are a hero," cried Einav Zangauker as she embraced her smiling son Matan, in one video.

"Love of your mom, bless you, bless you, my dear."Eitan Mor's father wailed in relief as he and the young man's mother squeezed him tight, the footage showed.Other young hostages such as Bar Kuperstein and Yosef Haim Ohana waved from the windows of vans that brought them to the Sheba medical centre near Tel Aviv, as cheering crowds nearby raised Israeli flags. Freed Israeli-German twins Gali and Ziv Berman smiled and gave the thumbs-up, wearing the yellow and blue shirts of their favourite football team, Maccabi Tel Aviv.

In Tel Aviv, hundreds of people erupted in joy, tears and song on Tel Aviv's Hostages Square Monday as news of the releases broke. Many had come at sunrise, carrying pictures of the hostages and waving Israeli flags bearing a yellow ribbon, a symbol of the movement calling for their release. "It's so exciting and overwhelming that it's finally happening," said Shelly Bar Nir, 34. "What we've been fighting for, for over two years - finally our hostages are coming home.

"Hamas and its militant allies took 251 hostages into Gaza during the Oct 7, 2023 attack. Many of them were released in earlier truces, but 47 people seized on Oct 7 remained in Gaza. Only 20 of them are alive.For the past two years, people have held rallies and gatherings on this spot in Tel Aviv that has become known as Hostages Square. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the main organisation representing their relatives, had called on people to gather at the site. Israel did not expect all of the dead hostages to be returned on Monday. "Our struggle is not over. It will not end until the last hostage is located and returned for proper burial," the forum said in a statement.