The ceasefire deal that is close to being agreed in Gaza has left families of the 98 hostages still held in the enclave facing a mix of hope, apprehension, and, in some cases, anger as negotiators make a final push to seal an agreement.
The draft proposal shared with Israel and Hamas by Qatari mediators would see 33 children, women and older men, as well as sick and wounded hostages released during the first phase of an extended ceasefire. Israel believes most of these hostages on the list are alive but has not had confirmation from Hamas.
In exchange, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners would be released and, if all goes well, negotiators will begin talking about freeing the remaining civilian men and soldiers as well as the bodies of dead hostages as part of a package of measures to end the 15-month war.
“We can’t miss this moment, this is the last moment, we can save them,” said Hadas Calderon, whose husband Ofer and children Sahar and Erez were abducted along with 251 others when Hamas-led terrorists stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200, mostly civilians, in the worst attack on Israel in its history.
The attack opened the war in Gaza that has lasted more than a year since then, with tens of thousands of Gazans dying and widespread devastation to the coastal enclave, but only a handful of hostages have escaped or been freed by the Israeli military.
Sahar and Erez were both released in the first hostage-for-prisoner exchange in November 2023 and Ofer, 54, is among those who could be released in the first phase of the new deal.
The last time Ofer’s children saw him, after 52 days in captivity, he was “in a very bad condition,” Hadas said.
“I know he’s suffering,” she said. “I dream about that. I feel it in my body. I feel he’s suffering. I feel it every moment. I feel guilty for any drink I take, or shower or food because I know they don’t have it.”
Protesters have rallied every week in Tel Aviv to call on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to agree on a deal to bring the hostages home, and a deal has never seemed closer.
But after repeated disappointments, few are willing to celebrate until their loved ones are back. For others, the deal is a cruel deception that will leave their husbands, sons, and brothers trapped in Gaza while negotiators begin another round of talks with their Hamas captors.
According to reports, the three-phase agreement would begin with the gradual release of 33 hostages over a six-week period, while the later phases would see negotiations with Hamas over a “complete withdrawal” of Israeli forces from Gaza — which Netanyahu has in the past vowed not to carry out until the terror group can no longer govern.
“The prime minister should bring a deal that includes all the hostages, including my son, a US citizen and a hero of Israel,” said Ruby Chen, whose soldier son Itay was killed in Hamas’s attack and whose body is being held in Gaza.
“He saved many people, he doesn’t deserve to rot in Gaza,” Chen said outside Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem, where she joined protesters urging the prime minister to hold out for a comprehensive deal.
Earlier, protesters in the Knesset harangued Defense Minister Israel Katz, who was taking part in a committee meeting, demanding that all the hostages be brought home.
“You are marketing a selection deal here as a humanitarian deal,” said representatives of Inbar Hayman, who was murdered in Hamas captivity in 2023, using the highly emotive word that evokes images of the Nazi Holocaust, when concentration camp inmates were chosen for forced labor or the gas chambers.
“What absolute victory is the prime minister talking about when we are unable to bury our daughter? Is there a greater humiliation for the state?”
Netanyahu met representatives of some of the hostage families on Tuesday but left many fearful about the prospects of release for those left behind.
“I went into the meeting hoping to find out that we’re talking about a deal for all the hostages, and I came out very worried that we’re not talking about a deal for all of them,” said Gil Dickmann, whose cousin Carmel Gat survived 11 months in Hamas captivity before being murdered by her captors along with five other hostages, according to an Israeli military assessment.
“We didn’t understand, why don’t you start the negotiations on the second stage now and get it over with?” he said. “We call upon [incoming] US president Trump and all other leaders of the world to make sure it doesn’t stop after the first stage, that all the hostages are coming out.”
It is believed that 94 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 40 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.
Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 46,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
Israel says it has killed some 18,000 combatants in battle as of November and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7. Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.