Israelis rejoice at hostages鈥� release, yet worry a sacred vow was broken
| TEL AVIV, Israel
Israelis held their collective breath as a white van sped into a Gaza City square crammed with masked Hamas fighters and Palestinian civilians chanting 鈥淕od is great鈥� in Arabic.
Inside that van late Sunday afternoon were three young women who had vanished from public sight 471 days earlier, when they were violently captured during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led assault on Israel. In all that time, almost no information had come out about them.
Now Romi Gonen, Emily Damari, and Doron Steinbrecher were becoming the first Israeli hostages to be released as part of a new ceasefire deal. Within seconds of the van door opening, all three made the harrowing passage directly into an awaiting Red Cross SUV.
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onAs Israelis celebrate the return of hostages held in Gaza, they are also anguished over the long time it took to bring them home. A nagging question for many is whether a social contract of mutual responsibility has been broken.
鈥淭hey are walking on their own two feet!鈥� exclaimed an Israeli news anchor as cheers rang out and tears of joy and relief were shed around the country. One watch party was at the Tel Aviv square that has been ground zero for the struggle to bring all the original 251 hostages home.
Of the remaining 94 hostages, 37 are thought to have been killed before being dragged into Gaza or while in captivity.
鈥淚 survived!鈥� an exuberant Ms. Damari shouted at cameras, defiantly holding up her bandaged hand, having lost two fingers when she was shot and seized from her kibbutz home along the Gaza border.
鈥淯nspoken social contract鈥�
Yet as Israelis welcome home their collective banot 鈥� Hebrew for daughters, as they are often referred to in the Israeli media 鈥� the long-awaited release has reinvigorated a wrenching emotional debate over the nation鈥檚 ethos of not leaving people behind.
Many say that has now been broken, that the country鈥檚 leaders have betrayed a trust by letting the hostages languish for this long. Four more women are to be released Saturday.
鈥淭he feeling that we belong not just to one big Jewish and Israeli family, but a group that is constantly under threat runs deep in our consciousness,鈥� says Oz Almog, a sociology professor at Haifa University. 鈥淭his is an identity that also comes with a strong sense of responsibility,鈥� he notes, part of the 鈥渦nspoken social contract鈥� and solidarity necessary to live in a dangerous region.
Israel鈥檚 mandatory military conscription is the prime example of not only a legal duty, he says, but also a 鈥渕utual promise that we won鈥檛 abandon one another,鈥� that 鈥渆ach person is expected to contribute to the greater good.鈥�
If all the hostages do not return home, Professor Almog says, 鈥淚t will be a disaster, a cultural collapse.鈥�
Yair Brill, who grew up on Kibbutz Be鈥檈ri, where 96 of its people were killed and 26 taken hostage, openly questions if such a communal ethos of mutual responsibility still exists.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a beautiful sentiment,鈥� says Mr. Brill. 鈥淏ut I don鈥檛 know how much it has actually stuck.
鈥淚 think there are people who still feel it 鈥� just look around at this protest,鈥� he says, waving a hand toward about 200 people gathered Tuesday evening next to the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, demanding a full hostage release.
鈥淚鈥檓 here so I won鈥檛 feel alone鈥�
The current ceasefire is a precarious one, a phased deal that many fear will collapse. Its cost is steep and lopsided: the exchange of more than 2,000 Palestinian security prisoners, including those convicted of killing Israelis, for the hostages.
鈥淚n some ways we are a country that has been orphaned; we don鈥檛 have the feeling that someone looks out for us. Our prime minister is the same prime minister that even before Oct. 7 had shown us he is not the leader of all its citizens,鈥� says Mr. Brill.
鈥淭hose government ministers who resigned over the deal just now did not resign because Jews were abandoned in captivity. It鈥檚 because the deal would mean Israel won鈥檛 be allowed to continue to control Gaza.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 feel there is a system that protects me. It鈥檚 very distressing. But I don鈥檛 have much of an option other than to join the struggle of those who still think we are beholden to one another. I鈥檓 here so I won鈥檛 feel alone.鈥�
Next to him are roaring chants to the beat of pounding drums: 鈥淲e will bring them back,鈥� 鈥淲e will not give up,鈥� and 鈥淓veryone, now!鈥�
The Oct. 7 attack, the most catastrophic military and intelligence failure in Israel鈥檚 history, was unlike anything Israelis had ever suffered: the massacre of 1,200 people in a single day, most of them civilians, and a mass hostage-taking, including of women, children, and older people.
That so many hostages are still in Gaza remains a source of deep distress. Many Israelis see themselves in a state of continued trauma, unable to heal or to begin to take stock of that day and the ensuing war in Gaza and the many lives it has claimed as long as the hostages languish there.
The hostages鈥� faces are ubiquitous, their images hung off bridges, along major intersections, and in the windows of restaurants and bars. Their names are recited daily, their individual stories shared.
But their conditions remain unknown, save for the occasional Hamas propaganda video in which they appear pale, with haunted eyes, like recent images of soldier Liri Elbag, seized with four other young women lookouts at an army base along the Gaza border.
Anger at Prime Minister Netanyahu
At the Tel Aviv demonstration Tuesday evening is Ifat Kalderone, a fixture of the hostage movement. She is arranging tea candles into a message beseeching U.S. President Donald Trump to enforce the ceasefire.
Her cousin is Ofer Kalderone, a father of four who was captured from his kibbutz with two of his children. His then-16-year-old daughter, Sahar, was briefly reunited with him in the tunnels before being released Nov. 27, 2023. She hardly recognized him, his hair long, spirit dimmed, and body emaciated.
He鈥檚 one of the hostages slated for release in the deal鈥檚 first phase.
鈥淚 always say I am fighting for all of them, even if Ofer comes back home. I will still be here because we have the others to bring back. There is no future to Israel if they don鈥檛 all come back home,鈥� she says, echoing a common refrain.
鈥淔rom the moment that I was born, I knew that if I was kidnapped 鈥� and of course we never imagined the events of the seventh of October 鈥� I knew the government will do everything to bring me or you back home.鈥�
The specter of hostage-taking is not new in Israel, although it has mostly been confined to soldiers. It strikes at the heart of Israeli feelings of vulnerability.
Ms. Kalderone blames Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for torpedoing previous ceasefire deals, alleging that he preferred saving his ruling coalition over rescuing his people, including some executed or killed in captivity who could have been saved as part of a deal.
She contrasts that attitude with that of the Israeli public: 鈥淲e take care of each other.鈥�
Nodding toward the protesters, she says, 鈥淭hey鈥檙e not even the family of hostages, but they do care about the hostages and they鈥檝e been fighting with me for such a long time, for 15 months. Even if it鈥檚 raining or it鈥檚 cold, in the summer heat, they are here, every night, standing with me,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hey know how important it is to bring them back.鈥�
Interviewed for a podcast, 鈥淭he State of Tel Aviv,鈥� Yediot Aharonot columnist Nadav Eyal addressed Israel鈥檚 social contract.
It 鈥渋s not an addiction to sentimentalism,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t is a clear-eyed, cold understanding of how the Middle East works and ... how Israel鈥檚 society can regain its strength in the aftermath of such a trauma as Oct. 7.鈥�
