Before the release of the three Israeli hostages late in the morning of Saturday, February 8, everyone seemed to be holding their breath in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square. US President Donald Trump's statements on the forced displacement of Gazans had raised fears that the first phase of the ceasefire, which is due to continue until the end of February, might be broken off. In Deir al-Balah, in the center of the Gaza Strip, on a stage set up by Hamas fighters, a banner read, next to a raised fist: "We are the flood, we are the day after the war" and "total victory," in reference to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's comments on the objectives of the conflict, 16 months earlier.

Despite the provocation, Ohad Ben Ami, Eli Sharabi and Or Levy were calmly handed over to Red Cross staff, after an exchange of signatures demanded by Hamas, which forced the three men to address the dozens of people present behind a cordon of armed and hooded men. In downtown Tel Aviv, where their release was being broadcast live on a giant screen, when a member of the armed group spoke in Hebrew, microphone in hand, music was blared loudly to cover his words and a young woman gave him the finger.

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