Families embrace as the last Israel hostages are released by Hamas as, Israel frees Palestinian prisoners. Image credit: Urdu Point
(The Post News) – All 20 Israeli hostages held captive in Gaza for more than two years by Hamas have been released, marking the largest break in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the October 7 attacks in 2023.
The hostages, who were all men, were turned over to the International Committee of the Red Cross on Monday morning before they were reunited with their families, with assistance from the Israeli military. Emotional scenes of fathers embracing sons and children greeting fathers were telecast live to tens of thousands of individuals who were present at Tel Aviv’s “Hostages Square,” as well as to millions who watched television.
Hamas released some of the hostages for video calls home earlier in the day, providing the first evidence to many that their loved ones were alive.
Tears of Joy and Relief Across Israel
After more than 700 long, painful, and agonizing days, Omri will at last receive from Roni and Alma a therapeutic hug,” the family of Omri Miran, 48, who was abducted from Nahal Oz kibbutz during Hamas’s 2023 terror attack, declared. “This is not a personal victory but a victory of a whole country.”.
The relatives of 22-year-old Matan Angrest, an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) soldier who was captured near the Gaza perimeter, expressed gratitude to U.S. President Donald Trump for his involvement in the negotiations. “A tremendous, historic, eternal thank you to the president of the United States,” they said. “Our Matan is home.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog welcomed the news: “Thank God, we welcome our loved ones. We wait for everybody, every last one.”
Trump, who arrived in Israel aboard Air Force One shortly after the release, was greeted with chants of his name by crowds in Tel Aviv and lawmakers in Jerusalem. Speaking alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset, Trump declared, “As far as I’m concerned, the war is over.”
“This is my great honour, a great and beautiful day. A new beginning,” he wrote in the Knesset guestbook.
The United States president is now hosting a “Summit for Peace” in Egypt’s Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh alongside Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, with other world leaders like Keir Starmer, António Guterres, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in attendance.
The Israeli government has voted to free 250 Palestinian inmates and more than 1,700 Gaza detainees in the initial stage of the ceasefire. Among them are those who were convicted of deadly attacks against Israelis.
Happiness filled Gaza and the West Bank as families were reunited. “This is a very beautiful feeling, a day of joy,” Muhammad Hasan Saeed Dawood, waiting to embrace his son in Khan Younis, said.
Despite that, rights groups reported allegations of abuse by among just-released detainees, which Israeli officials have rejected.
The swap is the initial step of Trump’s 20-point peace plan, which includes Israeli troop withdrawals from Gaza, humanitarian aid delivery, and negotiations on Hamas’s future governance and disarmament.
A Fragile Hope
World leaders greeted the breakthrough as a turning point.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, “Today is the beginning of the first major step towards ending the war in the Middle East. Now we have to deliver peace and a secure future for the whole region.”
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said, “President Trump made this possible. It is an important step on the way towards peace.”.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said the summit would work towards securing a U.N.-backed peacekeeping force to sustain Gaza’s stability. “We need American participation, even deployment on the ground,” he told reporters.
As festivities swept Israel and Gaza, analysts warned that the ceasefire would depend upon sustained international support and reconciliation between rival Palestinian groups.
For now, Israelis who gathered in Hostages Square mark the release as a time of long-awaited reunification.
As one mother, Julie Kupershtein, put it in a post-reunion video conference with her son Bar: “Seeing my child after two years, everything is okay. I shouted to heaven. To know they’re alive, I’m trembling from head to toe.”
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