For two years, the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza have been the embodiment of the intense trauma the militants’ horrific October 7 2023 attack wrought on Israeli society. Some 250 people were seized and herded back to the strip, while 1,200 were killed. The hostages endured brutal conditions, kept deep in Hamas’s network of tunnels while Israel bombarded the territory. Some were tortured and starved, others executed, as the captives became the militants’ prime source of leverage in its negotiations with Israel.
Now the remaining 20 living hostages are finally set to be released, along with the corpses of another 28 who were either killed in the October 7 attack or died in captivity, as part of the first phase of US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza. Assuming all goes as planned, it should be a cathartic moment for Israel, one of joy mixed with sorrow for those lost. It will also represent the most important foreign policy achievement of Trump’s tumultuous second term.
Just as significantly, the ceasefire agreed by Israel and Hamas will bring relief to the more than 2mn desperate Gazans who have lived through daily bombardment, mass displacement and widespread starvation. The strip has been devastated, with Israel bombing much of it into a wasteland and killing more than 67,000 Gazans, according to Palestinian health officials.