Hamas's release of three emaciated, haggard hostages on Saturday, February 8, precipitated a movement that had begun two weeks earlier: Former captives and their relatives are now speaking out more and more openly about the conditions of detention in Gaza. It's as if the recent returns of hostage, under the agreement between Israel and the Islamist organization that came into force on January 19, had not only freed 18 men and women, but also their voices. As the physical condition of the returnees worsens and the deal falters, some families are deviating from the instructions of silence still issued by the military authorities, anxious to preserve the lives of the hostages still being held.

The dissemination of the stories didn't begin with the first releases, on January 19, but the following week. On January 25, four smiling young women were put on show by Hamas, standing on a podium and dressed in pseudo-uniforms, made to thank their kidnappers, in Arabic, for taking "good care" of them. Was this desire to speak to counter the astonishing images of the hostage releases, which seemed to lend credence to the clemency claimed by the Islamist organization? In any case, details of the captivity of Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy, Karina Ariev and Liri Albag arrived later that afternoon. For the first time since the truce of November 2023, the public was informed, almost live, of the prisoners' detention conditions, including those released the previous week.

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