For Jonathan Dekel-Chen, every day of this week is a mixture of joy and sorrow. He is celebrating the return of his son Sagui, who was released over the weekend as part of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. However, it is impossible to escape the ordeal of Sagui and the torture of the rest of the hostages.
“Today is a very different feeling,” Dekel-Chen said in an interview Thursday.
He had just visited his son at a hospital in the Tel Aviv area, when Hamas flipped over the coffin that day, which was said to contain the remains of Mr. Dickel Chin's four neighbors, were killed or hostage on October 7, 2023.
It has been 504 days since the Hamas-led offensive, and about 60 hostages have not returned home. “We need to double down on bringing all hostages home now,” said Mr. Dekel-Chen. The four bodies that were said to have returned on Thursday include three members of the Bibas family – Ariel Bibas, 4, and just 10 Kfir Bibas, month old, and their mother Shiri Bibas. After the video of bringing it to Gaza spreads, Bibases symbolizes the plight of prisoners.
But earlier Friday, the Israeli military announced that the remains of Ms. Bibas' coffin were said to be inconsistent with the identity of any hostage. “This violates the maximum extent of seriousness,” the military said.
Authorities did confirm the remains of the children, as well as the remains of Oded Lifshitz, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office. Benjamin Netanyahu's office said he was only 83 years old when he was imprisoned by the armed Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Retired journalist Mr. Philhitz was captured along with his wife Yocheved Lifshitz, who was released for weeks for what Hamas calls “humanitarian and health reasons.”
She described the abuse and painful conditions in the underground tunnel of Hamas, warning other hostages would not be tolerated.
Before the war, Mr. Lifshitz voluntarily drove to the Israeli hospital for medical care and is now a founding member of the peace branch, a group promoting a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestine conflict. “He is a person who is truly committed to his own values,” said Mr. Dekel-Chen, who has been friends with Mr. Lifshitz for decades.
At the rally Thursday night, thousands of Israelis paid tribute to Mr. Livshitz and other hostages, known as the Hostage Square in Tel Aviv. They are also there to put pressure on the Israeli government to release those still in progress.
The Rally Speaker asked the Netanyahu government not to let the ceasefire collapse. The first phase of the agreement between Israel and Hamas will take effect in January and will end in less than two weeks. The second phase of negotiations was delayed, leaving the fate of dozens of prisoners in the air.
The fragile truce has led to the release of hostages in Gaza in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons – but there are some concerns among the hostage relatives that there may be no other round of issuance.
Yael Adar's son Tamir Adar was killed in an attack on Kibbutz Nir Oz, whose body has not yet come from Gaza ( Gaza) returns, and he speaks at the rally Thursday. She said when Tamir's son heard that the body would return to Israel this week, he asked his father if he would go home.
“We told him no, not at this stage. Asaf doesn't understand why there are stages,” she said.
Netanyahu's office said six living hostages will be released on Saturday, rather than three as planned, and four bodies will be returned next week.
But the relatives were very anxious.
Hamas failed to return to Ms. Bibas raised new questions about whether the next hostage and prisoners will continue on Saturday, as well as the fate of talks in the second phase of the ceasefire agreement.
If negotiations on the second phase fail, there are about 60 hostages, some who believe they are dead, are likely to stay in Gaza. If the battle recovers, those who are still alive will even be in danger.
On Monday, a rally was held at the Hostage Square to mark the 500th day of people being imprisoned in Gaza.
Among the speakers is Yeela David, the sister of Evyatar David, who was taken away in the October 7 attack at the Rising Star Festival. “The second phase is the last chance to save dozens of lives,” she said. “If the deal crashes and the second phase does not begin, it will remain black stains in the pages of our history.”
The released hostage said there was no time to waste.
Keith Siegel's wife drove home at a rally in Hostage Square on Monday. Mr. Siegel was held in Gaza for nearly 500 days, and for six months he was locked in a small room. In the words of his wife Aviva, he was beaten, threatened by gunfire, and the kidnapped was reduced to “nothing”.
Ms. Siegel said he only ate moldy pita bread, which lost 65 pounds, and sometimes he thought he wouldn't survive.
“He went through 484 days of hell,” Ms. Siegel said, who was released during a brief halted battle in November 2023. “I'm in Gaza. I survived. Keith survived. No one else would,” Ms. Siegel warned.
This is the theme of other former prisoners repetitions, including 46-year-old Iair Horn, who was released on Saturday along with two other hostages in exchange for 369 Palestinian prisoners.
He appeared in a video message at a rally on Monday, recording about 48 hours after returning to Israel, begging his brother Eitan Horn, who is still in Gaza and has not been released in the first phase of the agreement.
“I'm there. I'm in the tunnel in Hamas. I've experienced it myself,” Iair Horn said. “I tell you, the hostages don't have time. They have to bring them back now.”
He said people have been asking him what he needs since he returned. “I answered them, 'I only need one thing: bring my brother back. Take my brother back and all the hostages.'”
