Families express elation, concern as 4 hostages set to return

The families of the four other returning hostages Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert, Eliya Cohen and Hisham al-Sayed express relief, joy and worry at their loved ones’ return.

Shem Tov, Wenkert and Cohen were snatched from the Re’im-area Nova music festival on October 7, 2023. Al-Sayed has been held in Gaza since entering of his own accord in 2015.

Al-Sayed’s father Shaaban tells Channel 12 that “these are difficult hours. I’ll tell him about the other hostages — he may not know.” The father also offers condolences to the Bibas family following the return of the bodies of mother Shiri and her young sons Ariel and Kfir.

Cohen’s uncle Kobi tells Army Radio that the family is “unbelievably nervous, and praying that he’s well, but however he is — we’ll rehabilitate him.”

Dozens of Cohen’s friends celebrate his expected return at the Tel Aviv home of Ziv Abud, his girlfriend.

In Herzliya, dozens of Shem Tov’s friends gather to watch him come back. “He’s a golden boy,” Noya Itah tells Channel 13. “He so deserves to come back.” Friends raise a toast as Shem Tov’s release is expected any minute in central Gaza.

At Wenkert’s family home in Herzliya, friends were dancing. Asked what they would say on his return, one friend said: “Nothing. We’ll just hug him.”