JNS
"We won’t stop until the last one is back," says Herut Nimrodi, whose son Tamir is still a prisoner in Gaza,
Israelis converged on Tel Aviv’s "Hostage Square" to watch the live broadcast on giant screens of the first three Israeli captives being reunited with their loved ones on Sunday evening as the hostages-for ceasefire-and-terrorists agreement with Hamas took effect in Gaza.
After Hamas finally handed over the names of the three hostages to be freed, the ceasefire with the terrorist organization took effect at 11:15 a.m.
The three women—Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari—were freed from Gazan control in the early evening.
Israel estimates that 25 of the 33 people on the list of hostages to be returned in the first stage of the ceasefire agreement are alive.
Herut Nimrodi, the mother of captive Tamir Nimrodi, who was kidnapped from his IDF base near the Erez border crossing with the northern Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023, will not be reunited with her son as part of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement.
“We know that after 15 months there is a slim chance he survived. We are still hoping that there is a chance we will see him again,” Nimrodi told JNS.
“There will be 64 hostages who will remain in captivity after the first stage, and we need to make sure we won’t forget them and we won’t stop until the last one is back home,” she continued.
“I am happy for the families that are going to have their loved ones back, and I know it brings me closer to seeing my son back again. It’s hard. I don’t know how I will react again when I see them hugging and we don’t know in what condition we will get them back,” she said.
“It’s very emotional and sad for me that I am not seeing my son, but I’m hoping after this stage, we will achieve the next and get them all back,” Nimrodi said.
According to the Justice Ministry, Israel will release 1,904 Palestinian terrorists in the first stage: 737 prisoners and administrative detainees—among them killers with blood on their hands—and 1,167 residents of the Gaza Strip not involved in the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, in return for the 33 hostages.
'Until they see them, they don’t know'
“There are no words. It’s crazy. It feels like it’s not entirely real. There is also the fear of whether or not they are alive. It’s not human what the families are going through. Until the very last moment, they don’t know what is happening. Until they see them, they don’t know,” Siobhan Lev told JNS inside the Kibbutz Nahal Oz tent erected at "Hostage Square" on Sunday. Lev is a former resident of Nahal Oz.
Racheli Peremen, also sitting inside the tent, told JNS she has been here for months to support the families of the two last Nahal Oz hostages, Tzachi Idan and Omri Miran, and keep the hostage issue a priority on the public agenda. Idan, 50, is expected to be released as part of the first stage of the agreement.
“Today, I feel that I am fighting back tears. My eyes are full of tears, joy, worry and sadness. There is not enough space in my heart for all those feelings,” Peremen said.
“We have been sitting in this tent for 15 months, every day waiting for them. All of a sudden, it’s real. I am looking for words but I can’t find any. We kept holding on to our hope but we also worry thinking of what awaits us,” she said.
Dan, 69, from Rochester, N.Y., told JNS at "Hostage Square," “We came here out of solidarity with our people. Hopefully, they will begin to come out and we will see them here and we will see all of them and the whole thing will be over, but we will never forget and we will never let it go.
“We wanted to be here on a significant day. It’s the beginning of healing for all of us, the Jewish people, the people of Israel and the people of the world. Israel is fighting the war of the world, not just a local incident. If we don’t win this, the Western world will fall,” Dan said.
