Anxiety ahead of Saturday, and the Saturdays to come
As the weekend approaches, tensions are rising, and real life is now imitating reality TV
Amir Ben-David is a journalist and senior writer at Zman Israel, The Times of Israel's sister Hebrew website. He's also a musician with the Israeli rock group “Avtipus” ("prototype"), a screenwriter and a novelist.
As the weekend approaches, tensions are rising. Will Hamas provide the names of the hostages set to be released on Saturday? Will the terror organization release three hostages, or perhaps nine? And if they are released, what condition will they be in? Will the gates of hell open, or remain closed for another week?
If these questions sound like a promo for a reality TV show, it’s because the structure of the hostage deal has been designed and managed — frighteningly — like an episode of “Survivor” or “Big Brother,” with a countdown to the “big reveal,” background stories and interviews with family members, and predictions and commentary ahead of the airing. Stay tuned.
Real life is now imitating television. Only this is about human lives. Human suffering.
Military officials estimate this morning that Hamas is interested in continuing the deal rather than blowing it up. The crisis is real and is being fueled by aggressive statements from all sides, but the mediating countries are seeking a solution, and the assumption is that, at least this Saturday, the release of hostages will continue as planned.
This morning, Palestinian sources reported that agreements had been reached for the release of three Israeli hostages. It was also reported that Israel will increase humanitarian aid entering the Strip.
Furthermore, Hamas’s announcement yesterday that a delegation from the organization had arrived in Cairo and begun preparatory meetings with Egyptian intelligence officials is seen as evidence that the terrorist group does not currently intend to break the agreement and cause the collapse of the ceasefire.
“In the internal [Palestinian] arena, pressure from the civilian population [in Gaza] is mounting,” writes Jackie Khoury in Haaretz this morning. “The rainy days sweeping through the Gaza Strip highlight the severe shortage of tents and mobile homes and worsen the distress of the displaced. Essential systems, foremost among them the healthcare system, are struggling to function without a stable supply of equipment.”
Anxiety over the hostages’ fate
This morning, dozens of protesters advocating for the immediate release of all remaining hostages blocked the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv near the Shalom Interchange. They held signs reading “All eyes on you!” and “If the deal collapses – the country will burn.”
The testimonies that have surfaced in the past day or two regarding the condition of the hostages in Gaza have significantly increased fears for their fate.
Noa Argamani, who was rescued from captivity by the IDF in June, wrote yesterday in an Instagram story: “I saw two of the friends who were with me in captivity for so long die before my eyes after barely surviving three months in captivity. It’s inconceivable.”
Questioning conducted by Shin Bet investigators of freed hostages indicates that most were held by relatively senior Hamas figures and spent long periods in their presence.
Michael Hauser Tov writes in Haaretz that “the interrogations also revealed that for some senior Hamas operatives, the assassination of senior Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh was more significant than the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar — since the freed hostages who were in the company of high-ranking officials reported hearing far more cries of anguish following Haniyeh’s assassination.”
Ran Gilboa, the father of IDF surveillance soldier Daniella Gilboa, who was released last month, told Yedioth Ahronoth this morning that Daniela was forced to drink contaminated groundwater from the floor, became severely ill, and was on the brink of death.
His daughter recounted that if she and the other four recently released surveillance soldiers had been returned two or three weeks earlier, they would have looked like the men who returned from captivity last week — Eli Sharabi, Ohad Ben Ami and Or Levy. But as the release of the female soldiers approached, they were fed to improve their appearance.
As is known, Hamas released a video in November that created the impression that Daniella had been murdered in captivity. “At that moment, I saw a black screen in front of my eyes,” Ran Gilboa told Yedioth Ahronoth reporter Nadav Zenziper. “Time stopped. After a year of her suffering in captivity, I told myself that they had also killed her. I didn’t know what to do with myself.
“In retrospect, it turned out that everything was staged and edited. They asked her to lie down, wrapped her in sheets, applied makeup, and emphasized her tattoo. They created a deliberate video, and we were left destroyed at home. We were helpless.”
