As rescued hostages return to transformed lives, families call for ceasefire

In one day, opposition leader Benny Gantz ended eight months of emergency power sharing and resigned from the war cabinet over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's handling of the war.

By midweek, as the rescued Israelis were assessed by doctors and psychologists and the details of their ordeal began to emerge, the strategic and political divisions tearing the country apart were once again on full display. The factions have fought bitterly over recent ceasefire talks and attempts to recruit more ultra-Orthodox men into the army.

Far from easing domestic pressure on Netanyahu, hostage advocates said the rescue mission had boosted public support for a negotiated settlement.

“We are aware that this is not something that can be replicated 120 times,” said Yossi Moatti, CEO of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, Israel's main hostage advocacy group, referring to the number of captives still detained in Gaza. “We are aware that the agreement is the only way to get the other hostages out.”

He said the movement, which has become more visible during weekly protests calling for the overthrow of Netanyahu's far-right government, would not stop taking to the streets or confronting Israeli leaders whenever possible. Hostage families staged a heated protest at a parliamentary meeting on Monday and planned to rally outside a military base in Tel Aviv on Wednesday evening.

The momentum would gain momentum, Moatti predicted, pointing to increased turnout in street protests just hours after the bailout was announced.

The mood that evening was both joyful and furious. Some protesters said they were out for the first time in months.

“That’s why there is hope,” Moatti said. “We saw a lot of people, more than usual, coming out of their homes to say, 'Take the deal!' »

Public frustration skyrocketed as ceasefire negotiations continued.

The latest initiative, presented by President Biden as an “Israeli proposal,” would begin with a six-week pause in fighting and the release of women, children, the elderly and injured hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

But negotiators have been unable to reconcile competing visions on when the war should end. Hamas insisted on a timetable for a definitive cessation of hostilities; Netanyahu said Israeli forces would continue to fight until the militant group was destroyed.

Among those pushing for the government to agree to a ceasefire were relatives of the four hostages freed on Saturday.

“I am one of the lucky ones,” said Orit Meir, the mother of Almog Meir Jan, 22, during a press conference at the hospital on Tuesday. “There is a deal on the table. We call on the Israeli government to move forward with this agreement. »

Like the rest of the rescued hostages, Meir Jan was kidnapped on October 7 during the Nova dance festival. He was held by armed guards alongside Shlomi Ziv, a 41-year-old man who lived near the Lebanese border, and Andrey Kozlov, a 27-year-old recent immigrant from Russia, who both worked as security at the rave.

The best-known captive was Noa Argamani, 26, who became a symbol of mass kidnappings after a video of her being driven screaming toward Gaza on a motorcycle went viral.

All four were apparently in good health when helicopters flew them out of the fighting in the Nuseirat refugee camp and landed them in a hospital just outside Tel Aviv. But like other freed hostages, they returned to a different, and often tragic, new normal.

Meir Jan learned shortly after landing that his father had died a few hours earlier. Relatives said Yossi Jan, who lived alone in central Israel, found himself isolated and overwhelmed by his son's ordeal, lost 45 pounds and spent hours obsessing over television news.

When he did not respond to phone calls from the military on Saturday to tell him that Almog was safe, Yossi's sister drove to his house and found him in the living room, dead of a heart attack. related.

“My brother died of grief and could not see his son return,” the sister, Dina Jan, told Israeli public broadcaster Kan.

Argamani learned that her mother was suffering from brain cancer and was clinging to life, even though she underwent experimental treatments to buy time to reunite with her daughter. Hours after being released, Argamani went to another medical center to join her.

“Noa learned about her mother’s complex condition from the medical team,” Ronni Gamzu, general director of Ichilov Hospital, said at a press conference on Sunday. He said the patient's understanding was limited but he believed there had been a “reasonable” degree of communication between mother and daughter.

The former hostages were released from their own hospital, where they began a multidisciplinary acclimatization program that medical professionals have been fine-tuning since the release of a wave of 105 hostages in November. The program includes physical exams, psychological counseling, and screenings for rape and sexual abuse.

The hostages are in no hurry to recount their experiences too quickly. They and their families are housed in dedicated facilities, mostly shielded from media attention. But details of their condition and experiences in Gaza began to be disclosed by family, friends and Israeli officials.

Meir Jan told his sister that he and the other prisoners were sometimes allowed to watch Al Jazeera, she told reporters at a news conference, and saw extensive coverage of the hostage families' protests in Israel.

Argamani told others that she had been transferred to several different locations and was sometimes dressed in traditional Arab clothing. She tried to stay positive through mindfulness exercises, according to the account of her meeting with Shin Bet security chief Ronen Bar, and could sometimes hear “non-stop” Israeli bombing.

“I once heard a radio report that Israel was against ending the war, and it broke me,” she told Bar, according to Israeli news outlet Ynet.

Soroka reported from Tel Aviv. Heidi Levine in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.