
Israel

Waiting in trepidation
As Israelis prepared this past week for the ceasefire and hostage exchange between Hamas and Israel, the tension and anxiety was palpable. All we can do is wait – and pray. For more than 470 days, 94 of our brothers and sisters stolen on 7 October have languished in the hell of captivity in Gaza.
Four other hostages, Avera Mengistu; Hisham al Sayed; and the remains of fallen soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin have been in captivity since 2014.
We know from medical experts and the testimony of former hostages the horror that they are enduring in captivity. Compounding the anxiety is that we still don’t know who is still alive and who is dead. In the first phase of this ceasefire and hostage exchange, 33 will be released. Three of the 33 were released on 19 January. It’s estimated that 25 are still alive. The agony is that this leaves more than 60 still in captivity as we move through the next phases.
If we’re feeling anxious and full of trepidation, we cannot begin to imagine what the families of hostages are enduring.
In a clandestine operation over the weekend, the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet recovered the remains of Shaul, bringing them home for a dignified burial. As his brother said, the circle has now been closed. All we want is for our hostages who are alive to be brought home to start the recovery process, and for the dead to be laid to rest with dignity so that their families have a place to mourn.
For more than 470 days, hostages’ families, Israelis, and many around the world have lobbied, rallied, screamed, demanded, pleaded, prayed, and cried, “Bring them home!” For more than 470 days, we have agonised and raged, thinking about them in the terror dungeons of Gaza or treated as veritable slaves by the people who have held them captive. For more than 470 days, we have come to think of the hostages as members of our families and essentially, they are. We know their names; we know that they aren’t just numbers in an agreement document, but a whole universe. Every single one. Their images have smiled at us from posters we have shared all over the world. Perhaps the one that resonates the most is a toothless, gummy smile belonging to a flame haired baby boy – Kfir Bibas. Kfir turned two in captivity on Sunday. He has never celebrated a birthday.
As you can imagine, there has been a multitude of opinions in Israel both for and against this deal. Essentially, Israel had to make a deal with the devil, which would seem unimaginable, but the devil has our babies and grandfathers, our mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers, and so we’ll do what we need to do because there’s no mitzvah more important than the redemption of the captive.
The disproportionate amount of Palestinian terrorists who will be released as part of the deal is a difficult pill for Israelis to swallow. While none of the Nukhba terrorists are included as part of this deal, those that will be released have committed some of the most heinous terror attacks committed against Israelis in the history of the country. We can never forget that 7 October mastermind Yahya Sinwar was part of the infamous swap for Gilad Shalit in 2011. For us as a nation, the raw, gaping wound inflicted on us by Hamas on 7 October cannot even begin to heal until they are all home. All of them.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar have stressed in recent days that this ceasefire is temporary and if Hamas breaks the deal, we’ll resume the war with full backing of the United States. Our war goals, which include the removal of Hamas from power, haven’t changed, both leaders stressed. Israel’s comforter-in-chief, President Isaac Herzog, addressed the nation last week, finding the right words that struck a balance between the joy of redeeming the hostages and the fury about the conditions of this deal. I’m of the belief that like him or loathe him, Netanyahu is a canny negotiator, and there’s a lot more to this agreement than meets the eye or has been leaked from the negotiation room.
In the meantime, Israelis wait, holding our collective breath. As the first three hostages, Emily Damari; Romi Gonen; and Doron Steinbrecher were released back into the loving arms of their families, the road to recovery will be long, but we’ll walk alongside them every step of the journey.
Now we wait. Who will be released next? The waiting is excruciating.
- Rolene Marks is a Middle East commentator often heard on radio and TV, and is the co-founder of Lay of the Land and the SA-Israel Policy Forum.
