Freed hostages embrace their families, wave and gesture to rapturous crowds
Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy, and Liri Albag met with cheers upon arrival at Petah Tikva hospital
The four female soldiers held hostage in Gaza for 477 days — Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy, and Liri Albag — were reunited with their loved ones Saturday, embracing them with smiles and tears after their release from captivity.
Photos and video released by the IDF showed the emotional meetings between the four released hostages and their families.
Earlier the parents, on a military base near the border, were seen clapping and crying out in joy as they watched a screen showing their released daughters being handed over by Hamas to the Red Cross in Gaza. In Tel Aviv, hundreds of Israelis gathered at a rallying point now widely referred to as Hostages Square, crying, hugging and cheering as the release was aired on a giant screen.
The four were taken in Red Cross vehicles to an Israel Defense Forces position within Gaza, and then driven across the border by an elite IDF unit. Once back in Israel, they were reunited with their parents at a military base near Re’im in southern Israel.
At the IDF base, the four underwent a brief medical check before being flown by IDF helicopter to Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva, where they are expected to stay for several days.
The Health Ministry said the young women will receive “comprehensive medical care, including psychological support and addressing any additional needs.”
In one video, Ariev ran into her parents’ arms, as her mother said, “You came back, our darling, you came back.” Another clip showed her on a video call with other family members.
Gilboa, seemingly showered and changed out of the mock IDF uniforms in which Hamas dressed the hostages for their release, shrieked with joy as she too ran to hug her mother and father. “Mom, you’re a lioness,” she told her mother through tears.

Previously freed hostages have said they saw news footage of their families protesting for their release during their captivity in Gaza.
Levy’s mother, Dr. Ayelet Levy Shachar, who has been a vocal advocate for her daughter over the past 15 months, was seen throwing her bag aside as her daughter ran through the hallway of the facility toward her parents.
“I’ll take care of you, everything will be okay,” her father was heard saying gently into his daughter’s ear as they hugged.
Albag was seen making a heart shape for the camera with her hands as she was led by IDF officers through the military facility to meet her parents.

“Liri, baby!” her father shouted joyfully as the 19-year-old jumped into a warm embrace with both of her parents.
“That’s it, you’re home, you’re home,” Albag’s mother cried.
Liri said to the camera afterward: “I love you, all of the citizens of Israel, who supported our families and to the IDF who did everything for us.”
Aboard the helicopter, Albag took a photo with her parents and a similar message. “I love you citizens of Israel, IDF soldiers. And my family!!” she wrote on a whiteboard. “I’m back,” she concluded in English.

At the Petah Tikva hospital, the helicopter was met by cheering spectators.
לירי, נעמה, דניאלה וקרינה נחתו בביה"ח בילינסון@yaelsharet_ pic.twitter.com/OJf4WW8PPo
— גלצ (@GLZRadio) January 25, 2025
Though crews at the landing site created a private corridor at the back of the helicopter for the four to disembark, a beaming Gilboa came to the front door to wave and and give thumbs up signs to the gathered supporters.
דניאלה גלבוע מנופפת לשלום לאחר הנחיתה בבילינסון pic.twitter.com/QYXcoD6PKQ
— ישראל היום (@IsraelHayomHeb) January 25, 2025
Albag was also captured making a heart sign with her hands from the window of the helicopter.
לירי אלבג סימנה לב עם הידיים דרך חלון המסוק: התיעוד מהגעת התצפיתניות לבילינסון pic.twitter.com/66dw2zK6bq
— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) January 25, 2025
The Prime Minister’s Office later released additional photos and videos of the women meeting their siblings and extended families at the hospital.
Inside the hospital, an emotional Gilboa burst into tears when meeting her relatives, while Albag screamed with delight while hugging family members.
Video also showed Levy marveling at how much her younger brother had grown in the more than 15 months she had been in captivity, and Ariev sharing a lengthy embrace with a loved one.
וידאו: דניאלה גלבוע, לירי אלבג, נעמה לוי וקרינה ארייב במפגש עם בני משפחותיהן, בבית החולים בילינסון. pic.twitter.com/nbJKzFEtkt
— ראש ממשלת ישראל (@IsraeliPM_heb) January 25, 2025
In a message, President Isaac Herzog wrote “an entire nation weeps and rejoices with you at this moment.”
Speaking at the hospital, Health Ministry representative Dr. Hagar Mizrahi said the women will receive a wide range of therapies, designed to address both their physical and emotional needs.
“Today we met Liri, Daniella, Naama and Karina after 477 days of Hamas captivity,” she said. “This is an emotionally and medically complex event for the hostages, for their families, for the families of all the hostages, and for the entire people of Israel.”

Ori Megidish, a soldier who was abducted along with the other women from the IDF surveillance unit at the Nahal Oz army base during the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, and who was rescued by IDF troops in October 2023, said the return of four of her comrades from the Strip was “a moment of light in a complex period.”
“Liri, Naama, Daniella and Karina. Welcome home!” Megidish said in a statement released by the army.

“We continue to wait and pray for the return of Agam Berger and all other hostages,” Megidish said, referring to the last female surveillance soldier still held in Gaza. “Without them, our hearts will not be complete.”
‘Tears of Joy’
At Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, a loud cheer swept through the gathered crowd earlier as giant screens livestreamed the long-awaited release of the four.
Hundreds had arrived in the square in the morning in anticipation. Many wore yellow T-shirts with the words “You are not alone” printed on them in Hebrew.
“I’m super excited, waves of excitement and happiness,” said Shlomi Ben Yakar, 54. “We didn’t believe in the past. It felt like a dream, and now it’s a good dream that is coming true.”
All eyes were fixed anxiously on the screens for hours, awaiting the arrival of a Red Cross convoy at a square in the center of Gaza City.

As soon as the four women appeared on the screen, cries of joy erupted, with many embracing one another tearfully in celebration.
“The feeling is great, excitement, tears and joy, all at once,” said Sima Ben Naim, a 70-year-old from Tel Aviv. “It’s not only happiness, we also have tears, and I hope all [the hostages] will return.”
Hana Mamalia, a 71-year-old from Ramat Hasharon, told AFP: “I almost fainted. My husband had to hold me. I have no voice, it’s good, I hope all will return home in peace. Amen!”
“Bring them home now!” shouted a group of women in the crowd, echoing the slogan of the Hostage and Missing Families Forum.

Not over yet
The four released hostages were among seven female soldiers abducted from the IDF surveillance unit at the Nahal Oz army base during the Hamas-led massacre on October 7, 2023. A fifth, Megidish, was rescued by the IDF later that month, while the body of Noa Marciano was recovered after she was murdered in captivity. The seventh, Agam Berger, is expected to be freed next Saturday.
The release marked the second hostage/prisoner exchange of the current ceasefire-hostage release deal. Israel later freed 200 Palestinian security prisoners, including dozens serving life sentences for murder and terror.
It is believed that 87 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.

Hamas has so far released seven hostages during the current ceasefire. The terror group released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November 2023, and four hostages were released before that.
Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 40 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors.
Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the body of an IDF soldier who was killed in 2014. The body of another IDF soldier, also killed in 2014, was recovered from Gaza in January.