They’re home at last.
The last 20 surviving Israeli hostages were freed by Hamas on Monday under a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal, marking a major step toward ending two years of devastating war in Gaza. The exchange, 737 days in the making, unfolded amid scenes of jubilation and relief in Israel, as President Donald Trump declared it “the historic dawn of a new Middle East.”
The Israeli military confirmed that it had received all remaining hostages verified to be alive, following their handover by the Red Cross from Gaza. Thousands gathered at “Hostage Square” in Tel Aviv erupted into cheers, hugs, and tears as news of the return spread.
At the same time, Palestinian prisoners released by Israel under the agreement crossed back into the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank. Many appeared gaunt, their heads shaved, as they were greeted by relatives and supporters.
“The skies are calm, the guns are silent, the sirens are still and the sun rises on a Holy Land that is finally at peace,” Trump was due to tell the Knesset before flying to Egypt for a regional summit on solidifying the fragile truce. The gathering will bring together more than 20 world leaders to discuss next steps under Trump’s 20-point peace blueprint — two years after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border assault that killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.
Early photographs released by the Israeli military showed six of the freed hostages standing and smiling with soldiers who received them. One, Guy Gilboa-Dalal, held up a whiteboard reading: “I have returned — the people of Israel live.”
“I am so excited. I am full of happiness. It’s hard to imagine how I feel this moment. I didn’t sleep all night,” said Viki Cohen, mother of hostage Nimrod Cohen, as she traveled to Reim, the Israeli military base where the freed captives were being processed.
In Gaza, masked gunmen from Hamas’ armed wing appeared at Nasser Hospital, where a stage had been prepared for the return of Palestinian prisoners. Watching from his phone, Emad Abu Joudat, 57, a father of six from Gaza City, said, “I hope that these images can be the end to this war. We lost friends and relatives, we lost our houses and our city.”
Though guns have fallen silent, diplomats warn the road to lasting peace remains uncertain — even as both sides, for the first time in years, begin to imagine one.
