After 49 days of uncertainty, rumors, poignant pain and false joy, the families of 24 of the 240 hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 were reunited with their loved ones on Friday, November 24. Israelis had been holding their breath along with them on the Sabbath, following the hour-by-hour progress of this long-awaited event. In the early evening, they were all able to watch a video, taken from far away in the dark of night: A bus slowly crossed the high barbed-wire border between Israel and Egypt, followed by a procession of Red Cross ambulances.

Less than 200 kilometers away, 39 Palestinian prisoners (24 women and 15 children) were released from Ofer prison, near Ramallah, under the terms of the agreement reached by Israel with Hamas. It comprises the exchange of 50 hostages for 150 Palestinian prisoners, the provision of humanitarian aid and a four-day pause in the fighting.

As soon as the first images were broadcast, the crowd in Tel Aviv's Art Museum Square (renamed "Hostage Square" since it became the center of demonstrations in support of the captives' loved ones) burst into tears and shouts of relief. A storm of applause accompanied the projection, on the museum wall transformed into a giant screen, of photos of the 13 freed Israelis – four children, their mothers and six elderly women.

Among them was 76-year-old Chana Katzir, whose death the Palestinian armed group Islamic Jihad had announced in a video in early November. The foreigners, 10 Thais and one Filipino, were the subject of separate negotiations, apart from those conducted by the Israeli government. Four of the Thais had never been officially counted as hostages. According to the New York Times, the Filipino citizen accompanying them, mistaken for one of their number, was released by mistake. No American or French nationals were among the first to be freed – a method for Hamas to encourage Washington and Paris to demand an extension of the truce from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

There were certainly smiles all around, but behind them lay many shadows. Yoni Asher, whose wife and two daughters, Raz, 4, and Aviv, 2, were part of the first batch of liberated hostages, immediately declared that he would not celebrate their return until all the hostages had returned. It was impossible to ignore the fact that just a stone's throw from the Art Museum, in the Beit Ariela library, where families have been able to gather for several weeks, tears were still flowing.

Caught between the happiness of others and their own suffering, many are still wondering about the fate of their parents, brothers, sisters or children still being held hostage in Gaza. For those whose names do not appear on the list of the first 50 to be released, the concern remained; it has even grown, so great is the fear that negotiations will come to a halt, fighting will resume and public opinion will lose interest in the issue.

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