Families of Israeli hostages, mired in anguish, erupt into joy as freedom nears for the captives

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — For the past two years, it’s been Israel’s ground zero of anguish, uncertainty, torment and despair. But early on Thursday, the central Tel Aviv area known as Hostages Square was a burst of unfettered jubilation.

A Champagne bottle was popped open to cheers from the crowd. Sweets were doled out. Tears of joy mixed with laughter and long embraces as the news sunk in: The struggle to free Israeli captives held in Gaza appears to finally be coming to a close.

“Matan is coming home!” yelled Einav Zangauker, arguably the most prominent face of the campaign to free the hostages, referring to her captive son. Her arms raised to the sky, she shouted out “Thank you!” as a crowd of supporters, families of hostages, and former hostages freed earlier in the war filled the square.

“I want to smell his smell,” she told reporters of her son. “If I have one dream, it is seeing Matan sleep in his own bed.”

After their loved ones were kidnapped in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war, the families of hostages have been thrust into a thankless battle for their freedom. They’ve traveled the world meeting leaders, squared off against Israeli politicians skeptical of their intentions, pled tirelessly for the release of their relatives from a nightmare that would not end.

Until Thursday.

After U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas had struck a deal that is meant to free the remaining hostages, the tension in the square began to lift. Israel says that of the 250 initially taken captive, 20 of the hostages that remain in Gaza are alive and 28 are dead.

The clock flashing the number of days, minutes and seconds since the harrowing October morning that upended their lives — a fixture in the square — still beamed down onto the families and their supporters. But rather than dragging on to what felt like eternity, the ticking seconds now pushed closer to the hostages’ impending release.

“For two years I have been fighting for the life of my man,” Rebecca Bohbot, whose husband Elkana was taken hostage on Oct. 7, 2023, wrote on Instagram. “This is the moment that a little boy will return to hug his father, a moment when my family comes back to life.”

Central to the celebrations on Thursday was Trump himself, whom many families of hostages and many Israelis credit with pressing their leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to agree to a deal. A person donned a costume of Trump and waved American flags, families expressed effusive thanks for the American leader and some chanted that he deserved a Nobel Peace Prize.

But above all else, the sadness that has settled over Israel since the attack 24 months ago began to dissipate as the square came to life under a night sky. The darkness of that day has never really left the minds of Israelis, with Hostages Square a place where the captives, their families and all Israelis can now feel some relief.

“I get chills all over from head to toe,” said Omer Wenkert, a former captive freed earlier in the war, of the news of a deal. “I can’t even imagine the amount of joy we will be able to feel, as a nation, finally.”

___

Goldenberg reported from Washington.