This Monday, Israel began to close one of the most painful chapters in its brief history. He did so when Hamas confirmed this Monday that they were still alive in Gaza, a liberation broadcast on a giant screen before several thousand people in the square now renamed Hostage Square, in the center of Tel Aviv. They have followed, between tears of joy and shouts of enthusiasm, the images of a delivery that has taken place in two batches. The first, of seven kidnapped people, around 09:00 (08:00, Spanish peninsular time); and a second, from the other 13, three hours later. All of them were handed over by Hamas to the International Committee of the Red Cross, which put them in the hands of the Israeli army and they are already undergoing a medical examination in the country’s hospitals.
After receiving them, Israel began to release nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, in a release. While a crowd enthusiastically welcomes the bulk (1,718) in Khan Yunis—in southern Gaza and where the presence of armed militiamen illustrates the challenges that Donald Trump’s plan still faces—another 154 have been expelled to Egypt through the back door. The atmosphere was also very different in the West Bank, where hundreds of relatives and friends received 88. They arrived emaciated, with signs of violence and unwilling to speak (unlike previous exchanges), reporting threats from the Israeli secret services if they did.
The excitement of the morning will now give way to a mixture of relief and pain, with the expected delivery of the last 28 bodies of Israeli hostages. It is not clear when it will take place, nor if Palestinian militias have been able to locate all the remains. The Forum of Families of Hostages and Disappeared Persons had assured that only four bodies will be delivered on this day, something that it has described as a “flagrant non-compliance” with the ceasefire. By mid-afternoon, Hamas had delivered only two of those four bodies.
Their mourning is the only thing that clouds this day of celebration in Israel for the return of the captives alive. The families’ forum has pointed out in a statement that their fight will not end until they receive a dignified burial: “, it has summarized. The family of Guy Gilboa-Dalal, one of the Israelis released alive, trusted that the families of the deceased would be able to bury them.
At the same time that those gathered erupted in cheers as they watched the images showing the convoy transporting the first seven captives already traveling on an Israeli highway, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, arrived in Israel.
“Thank you, Mr. President!”
The screen in the hostage square then unfolded to show, in one half, the cars in which the kidnapped people were traveling and, in the other, Air Force One, which was preparing to land in Tel Aviv. “Thank you, Trump! Thank you, Mr. President!” was then heard over the loudspeakers, while many of the Israelis present – some carrying American flags – burst into applause and praise for the president.
Defining him as a “savior” or even as “the king of Israel” – the case of Guy, an Israeli who preferred to introduce himself only by his first name – many of those gathered in Tel Aviv square gave Trump credit for the agreement. Without his intervention, several said, it would not have been possible. Both before flying to Israel and upon his arrival, Trump has insisted on one idea: “The war is over.” Asked if Benjamin Netanyahu is also clear, he reiterated it before adding: “Do you understand?” The expression seemed more directed at the prime minister of Israel than at the journalist.
When the first hostages arrived on Israeli territory, buses carrying Palestinian prisoners began leaving Israeli prisons. The vast majority, bound for Gaza, where they were arrested by the Israeli Armed Forces during the mass arrests they carried out in more than two years of invasion, with an eye toward a future exchange for the hostages. None, in fact, participated in the October 2023 attack that triggered the invasion, according to the Government of Israel.
Another 250 prisoners, whose negotiation has been more delicate, were serving long sentences in Israeli prisons. Mostly, at least a life sentence, for participating in or organizing attacks against Israelis. 154 of them have been deported to Egypt, as the Minister of Prisoners’ Affairs, Raed Abu Al Humus, told this newspaper at the Cultural Palace in the West Bank city of Ramallah, before flying to that country to receive them.
Another 88 arrived in Ramallah shortly before noon. Hundreds of family and friends were waiting for them. Even from first thing in the morning. The place has been filling up to the point that Palestinian security forces have closed the access door. Some were dressed in traditional Palestinian clothing, as a sign of celebration. Others cried, shouted “Allah is the greatest” or hugged and kissed the inmates on the forehead when they got off the buses.
The atmosphere, however, was not that of previous exchanges. Not only because of the relatively low number of those released from prison in the West Bank. Also because Israel has refused to include the more charismatic names that Hamas demanded, so there was no . Their arrival (pale, with shaved heads, all with recent signs of blows on their faces and some without even being able to walk) generated more shock than joy.
Some got off the bus with the victory sign and were carried by the crowd, but others sat down when they arrived, exhausted. The rescue services offered them wheelchairs and the Palestinian police made way for them to move forward, with difficulty but without discomfort.
“The conditions are extremely difficult and indescribable for us prisoners, since during the last three days, when they transferred us, it was very hard: we suffered beatings, humiliation and verbal abuse. I cannot go into more details because the occupation [Israel] “It forbids us to speak,” one of them told this newspaper, without wanting to give his name for fear of reprisals.
A second inmate released, after serving 23 years of his life sentence, spoke of “indescribable hardships,” especially in the last 72 hours, “marked by indescribable beatings and torture.” “Until this moment, I still can’t believe I’m out of jail,” he added.
A few Palestinians tried to receive them in the hills of the West Bank town of Beitunia near one of the prisons from which they left, Ofer. It ended in clashes between the young people and the Israeli soldiers, who fired rubber bullets and tear gas at them, causing one injury, according to the health services.
Knesset speech
Everything has happened while the American president is doing something to which only three other US presidents had been invited before: Jimmy Carter (1979), Bill Clinton (1994) and George W. Bush (2008).
That city has also been decorated in his honor by installing large posters on buildings with his image printed on the flags of Israel and the United States. One even compares him to King Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Achaemenid dynasty in ancient Persia, who freed the Jews from captivity—alluding to his role in the return of the hostages—by conquering Babylon and allowing their return to Jerusalem.
Trump has repeated this day that Hamas will disarm to comply and that “the war is over.” In the Egyptian city of Sharm el Sheikh, Trump will participate this Monday in the signing ceremony of the agreement for Gaza, with the presence of, among them, the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not be present in the Egyptian resort city, as reported by his office this Monday, due to the proximity of the holidays for the release of the freed hostages. There will also be no Hamas representatives. Yes, the president of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmud Abbas, will be there.
