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‘Emotionally Drained’: Mix of Relief, Trepidation in Tel Aviv as First Three Hostages Released From Gaza
Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square on Jan. 19, 2025, as three Israeli hostages were set to be released from Hamas captivity as part of a Gaza ceasefire deal. Photo: Taken by author
A wave of relief and celebration swept through the crowd at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square as three Israeli women were released after spending 471 days in Hamas captivity in Gaza.
The 2,000-strong crowd, composed of family members, friends, activists, and members of the general public, erupted into cheers and tears as live footage of the return of Emily Damari, Romi Gonen, and Doron Steinbrecher was broadcast.
The moment, though joyful, was mixed with pain for the ongoing torture for families of those still held captive as well as the terrible price Israel was forced to pay to free the hostages. After prolonged negotiations, Israel is set to release 1,700 terrorists — more than 1,000 of whom were arrested in Gaza after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack, which saw 1,200 killed and 251 taken captive during the Palestinian terrorist group’s invasion of and rampage across southern Israel.
Sunday’s tranche, in which the three women were exchanged for 90 Palestinian security prisoners, is part of a 42-day ceasefire to halt fighting in Gaza in which 33 hostages are slated for release.
Israeli sources involved in the release process at Ofer Prison alleged that Red Cross representatives intentionally delayed the release of security prisoners. They claimed the postponement was aimed at ensuring the release occurred after the agreed-upon date, suggesting an effort to portray Israel in a negative light.
Onlookers at the square held up signs bearing the names and faces of those still missing, reminding the public that the crisis is far from over. Many in the crowd expressed mixed emotions — relief for the freed hostages but worry over the coming weeks and even years ahead.
Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square on Jan. 19, 2025, as three Israeli hostages were set to be released from Hamas captivity as part of a Gaza ceasefire deal. Photo: Taken by author
“I’m emotionally drained and it’s only been one day. How on earth are we going to keep this up for so long?” said Hani Nadav.
Footage of the three women being escorted by armed Hamas terrorists, their faces concealed by masks and Kalashnikov rifles in hand, stirred deep unease among viewers. The sight of roaring crowds in the background, celebrating the ceasefire, only intensified the emotional strain for those watching from afar.
“The most sickening part is we have to rely on Hamas — a bunch of rapist killers — to control those crowds because who knows what they would do to those women if they could get their hands on them?” said Nataly Spiro said. “It’s so messed up.”
Later in the evening, Hamas released a propaganda video showing its operatives giving the hostages “gift bags” prior to being released into the care of the Red Cross. The bags reportedly included photos of them in captivity, maps of Gaza, and a “release certificate.”
Clara Merman, who endured 53 days of captivity in Gaza alongside four members of her family before being released in November 2023, was also at Hostages Square. Merman shed light on the psychological tactics employed by Hamas during hostage releases, saying that the orchestrated nature of their actions was little more than a façade intended to project an image of control and benevolence.
“It was all for show, for the world to witness their apparent victory,” she said.
Merman recounted how, during their release, Hamas members assured them of protection amid chaotic crowds. “Hamas told us, ‘Don’t worry, we’re protecting you,’” she recounted.
According to Palestinian affairs analyst Khaled Abu Toameh, Hamas is leveraging the deal, which does not require it to relinquish control over the Gaza Strip, to reinstate its position as ruler over the coastal enclave in order to carry out further massacres against Israel in the future.
One man, Pinhas Cohen, said he was very opposed to the deal but nonetheless decided to come to Hostages Square — the de facto headquarters for activists who have been urging Israel to secure an agreement “at any cost” — because he felt he needed to be with “my Jewish brothers, even though I may disagree deeply with them.”
“Tonight, we celebrate. Seeing those three come back, it’s hard not to feel anything but complete joy. I hope that my fears about what will happen down the road will turn out to be completely unfounded,” Cohen said.
Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square on Jan. 19, 2025, as three Israeli hostages were set to be released from Hamas captivity as part of a Gaza ceasefire deal. Photo: Taken by author
The three women were transferred to Sheba Medical Center for evaluation, though hospital authorities said their initial assessment was positive. “Their condition allows us to concentrate on the important thing, which is reuniting with their families, and to postpone diving into medical issues for a few hours,” said Sheba Director Dr. Yael Frankel-Nir.
Footage emerging from the hospital showed the women hugging family members ecstatically. Damari was pictured with a bandaged hand with two remaining fingers. Her family said that her fingers had been shot off during the Oct. 7 attack.
The Steinbrecher family issued a statement after reuniting with their loved one.
“After an unbearable 471 days, our beloved Dodo has finally returned to our arms,” the Steinbrecher family said, referring to Doron by her nickname. The family went on to thank the people of Israel for endlessly fighting for Doron’s release, and extended thanks also to incoming US President Donald Trump “for his significant involvement and support, which meant so much to us.”
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Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials
FILE PHOTO: The atomic symbol and the Iranian flag are seen in this illustration, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
i24 News – Iranian and Iran-affiliated media claimed on Saturday that the Islamic Republic had obtained a trove of “strategic and sensitive” Israeli intelligence materials related to Israel’s nuclear facilities and defense plans.
“Iran’s intelligence apparatus has obtained a vast quantity of strategic and sensitive information and documents belonging to the Zionist regime,” Iran’s state broadcaster said, referring to Israel in the manner accepted in those Muslim or Arab states that don’t recognize its legitimacy. The statement was also relayed by the Lebanese site Al-Mayadeen, affiliated with the Iran-backed jihadists of Hezbollah.
The reports did not include any details on the documents or how Iran had obtained them.
The intelligence reportedly included “thousands of documents related to that regime’s nuclear plans and facilities,” it added.
According to the reports, “the data haul was extracted during a covert operation and included a vast volume of materials including documents, images, and videos.”
The report comes amid high tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, over which it is in talks with the US administration of President Donald Trump.
Iranian-Israeli tensions reached an all-time high since the October 7 massacre and the subsequent Gaza war, including Iranian rocket fire on Israel and Israeli aerial raids in Iran that devastated much of the regime’s air defenses.
Israel, which regards the prospect of the antisemitic mullah regime obtaining a nuclear weapon as an existential threat, has indicated it could resort to a military strike against Iran’s installations should talks fail to curb uranium enrichment.
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Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz looks on, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Nov. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday.
Nattapong Pinta’s body was held by a Palestinian terrorist group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.
Pinta, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.
Israel’s military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to Gaza the bodies of two more Israeli-American hostages that were retrieved earlier this week.
There was no immediate comment from the Mujahedeen Brigades, who have previously denied killing their captives, or from Hamas. The Israeli military said the Brigades were still holding the body of another foreign national. Only 20 of the 55 remaining hostages are believed to still be alive.
The Mujahedeen Brigades also held and killed Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, according to Israeli authorities. Their bodies were returned during a two-month ceasefire, which collapsed in March after the two sides could not agree on terms for extending it to a second phase.
Israel has since expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as US, Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered.
US-BACKED AID GROUP HALTS DISTRIBUTIONS
The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling.
Aid distribution was halted on Friday after the US-and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations. It was unclear whether aid had resumed on Saturday.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. It says it has provided around 9 million meals so far.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to U.N. and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.
The war erupted after Hamas-led terrorists took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack, Israel’s single deadliest day.
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US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
The State Department is weighing giving $500 million to the new foundation providing aid to war-shattered Gaza, according to two knowledgeable sources and two former US officials, a move that would involve the US more deeply in a controversial aid effort that has been beset by violence and chaos.
The sources and former US officials, all of whom requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that money for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) would come from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is being folded into the US State Department.
The plan has met resistance from some US officials concerned with the deadly shootings of Palestinians near aid distribution sites and the competence of the GHF, the two sources said.
The GHF, which has been fiercely criticized by humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, for an alleged lack of neutrality, began distributing aid last week amid warnings that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli aid blockade, which was lifted on May 19 when limited deliveries were allowed to resume.
The foundation has seen senior personnel quit and had to pause handouts twice this week after crowds overwhelmed its distribution hubs.
The State Department and GHF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reuters has been unable to establish who is currently funding the GHF operations, which began in Gaza last week. The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to transport aid into Gaza for distribution at so-called secure distribution sites.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that a Chicago-based private equity firm, McNally Capital, has an “economic interest” in the for-profit US contractor overseeing the logistics and security of GHF’s aid distribution hubs in the enclave.
While US President Donald Trump’s administration and Israel say they don’t finance the GHF operation, both have been pressing the United Nations and international aid groups to work with it.
The US and Israel argue that aid distributed by a long-established U.N. aid network was diverted to Hamas. Hamas has denied that.
USAID has been all but dismantled. Some 80 percent of its programs have been canceled and its staff face termination as part of President Donald Trump’s drive to align US foreign policy with his “America First” agenda.
One source with knowledge of the matter and one former senior official said the proposal to give the $500 million to GHF has been championed by acting deputy USAID Administrator Ken Jackson, who has helped oversee the agency’s dismemberment.
The source said that Israel requested the funds to underwrite GHF’s operations for 180 days.
The Israeli government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The two sources said that some US officials have concerns with the plan because of the overcrowding that has affected the aid distribution hubs run by GHF’s contractor, and violence nearby.
Those officials also want well-established non-governmental organizations experienced in running aid operations in Gaza and elsewhere to be involved in the operation if the State Department approves the funds for GHF, a position that Israel likely will oppose, the sources said.
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