Tears of joy as living hostages are returned

LAVON Israel It was a day of contentment and tears across Israel Families loved ones and friends watched as Hamas published the last living hostages held captive for over two years in the Gaza Strip On day since Alon Ohel was taken hostage family and friends of the young music lover jumped to their feet cheered blew into shofars traditional horns that announce glad tidings and hugged each other when they saw his picture on a livestream among the seven hostages Hamas first published to the Red Cross on Monday morning This is the best morning in my life I just want to hug him Ohel s cousin Noam Rozen disclosed before choking up By midday more hostages were freed bringing the final number of the living hostages issued to With other members of his family and dozens of supporters cheering Rozen took down one of the hostage posters that had long been hanging by the village s entrance and replaced it with a banner saying in Hebrew Welcome back home the heart returned to beating and now we can breathe The wait on a Galilee hilltop village Hundreds had been packing the small public center of the hilltop village of Lavon in the Galilee since before dawn for one of the greater part essential days of their lives when the last living hostages were scheduled to be issued first to the Red Cross and then to the Israeli military as part of a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war I described God countless months ago If Alon is coming home I bring shofar and I say thank you for this ' revealed Yaniv Shema Zion who s known Ohel since he was a toddler Wearing T-shirts emblazoned with pictures of Ohel people from Lavon waved flags sang hymns hugged and wiped away tears before falling silent in front of the projected screen carrying images from Gaza of the release Knowing Alon there was no chance not to get him back with us his aunt Nirit Ohel revealed though she added the family was still worried about his vitality Alon Ohel had had shrapnel in his eye from the Oct attack on the bomb shelter in southern Israel where he had sought refuge People in Lavon jumped on chairs and shouted with happiness when the first images of Ohel were broadcast showing him thin but expressing happiness People in Tel Aviv s Hostages Square sobbed as photos of the hostages reuniting with their families flashed on the large screens The names and faces of the hostages and their families have become household names across Israel over the past two years Endless days in chains Ohel was kidnapped at the Nova music festival from a mobile bomb shelter along with Hersh Goldberg-Polin an American-Israeli who was killed in captivity in August Eli Sharabi another hostage held with Ohel and published in a previous ceasefire reported they were kept chained with only a moldy pita bread per day for food Ohel became a symbol of the hostage emergency because of his piano playing At his mother initiative pianos in his honor appeared across the country including next to Jerusalem s city hall and in Tel Aviv s square devoted to the hostages She wished people to play and through it to send their love to him Nirit Ohel commented Another of Ohel s aunts Einat Rozen declared she was ultimately able to feel elation again and praised the group s aid Our area was with us all the time she announced tears streaming down her face The hostages plight The fate of the hostages taken by Hamas-led militants in the attack on southern Israel just over two years ago has weighed on every aspect of daily life in this country Hostage posters and stickers are plastered everywhere from seaside promenades to countryside bus stops and a great number of Israelis have been wearing yellow ribbons on their lapels their wrists their cars and their gardens for more than two years For observant Jews Monday held an extra special meaning Both the Oct attack and the release of hostages overlapped with the Jewish people s celebration of the holiday of Simchat Torah which marks the beginning of a new annual cycle of the reading of the scrolls It is one of the largest part joyous days of the Jewish calendar with festive dancing around a Torah The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on Oct killing particular people and taking as hostages In Israel s ensuing offensive more than Palestinians have been killed in Gaza according to Gaza s Fitness Ministry which doesn t differentiate between civilians and combatants but says around half the deaths were women and children The ministry is part of the Hamas-run leadership and the U N and plenty of independent experts consider its figures to be the greater part reliable estimate of wartime casualties People react as they watch a live broadcast of Israeli hostages distributed from Gaza at a plaza known as hostages square in Tel Aviv Israel on Monday AP Photo Oded Balilty Freed Israeli hostage Eitan Mor gestures from a van as he arrives at Beilinson hospital in Petah Tikva Israel after he was circulated from Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip on Monday AP Photo Ariel Schalit Rom Breslavski an Israeli hostage circulated from the Gaza Strip waves from a minibus at the Sheba Therapeutic Center in Ramat Gan Israel on Monday AP Photo Leo Correa