They are the only ones left. At 8:06 am Israel time on Monday, October 13, the final living Israeli hostages held for two years in the Gaza Strip, 20 men aged 21 to 48, were released by Hamas, turning the page on the deadliest attack carried out on Israeli soil since the country's founding in 1948. On October 7, 2023, 251 people, including women and children, were captured and taken into the Palestinian enclave. The emotion was palpable on Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, where thousands of people gathered and learned, live on a giant screen, the names of the first seven captives to be freed: Matan Angrest, twin brothers Gali and Ziv Berman, Alon Ohel, Eitan Mor, Omri Miran and Guy Gilboa-Dalal.

A roar spread through the crowd, shouts of joy rang out amid applause, then a few seconds of silence fell when the haggard face of one of them fleetingly appeared next to a masked Hamas guard. Hands clasped in prayer under her chin, Sara, a 20-year-old economics student who did not wish to give her last name, could not hold back her tears: "We have hoped for this moment so, so much that it's hard for me to believe it's actually happening, before our eyes."

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