Thousands rally at Hostages Square before deal starts: ‘Finally beginning to see the light’

Israelis attend a rally calling for the release of captives held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, at "Hostages Square" in Tel Aviv, January 18, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Israelis attend a rally calling for the release of captives held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, at "Hostages Square" in Tel Aviv, January 18, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Thousands of people flock to Hostages Square in Tel Aviv for the weekly rally urging the release of the captives, some 12 hours before the Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal is set to take effect.

Freed hostage Amit Soussana, who was released during a weeklong truce in November 2023, says that she “didn’t think for a moment that the deal didn’t include everyone and that the fighting could resume.”

She says she watched all the releases on a television in Gaza during that truce agreement.

“I didn’t know when I would get out, and still I was so happy for every hostage who was released,” she says.

“When I was released, I left behind people I love,” she says. “We can’t do that to them again. They won’t survive it.”

“Today we are finally beginning to see the light, but true victory, and a recovery for all of us, can start only once the last of the hostages comes back home,” she adds.

The deal will see 33 hostages released in the first “humanitarian” phase of the agreement. The remaining 65 hostages are to be released over the deal’s next phases.

“The agreement has to include everyone,” says Soussana. “We must formulate the second and third phases now and make sure nobody is left behind.”

Soussana, who has spoken publicly about the sexual assault she endured in captivity, tells the audience that the three women expected to be released on Sunday “must not return to a divided society.”

“The return will be hard, but I know life trumps everything,” she says.

Ofri Bibas Levi, sister of hostage Yarden Bibas, marks the second birthday of Yarden’s son Kfir, the youngest hostage in Gaza.

“I try to draw comfort from the thought that this year, Kfir’s birthday is the date when the agreement will finally be ratified,” she says. “This day will become a symbol of hope, a new beginning, for the rehabilitation and the recovery of an entire nation.”

She notes that the family has for the past year been searching for the purple toy elephant that Kfir can be seen clutching in a now iconic photo of him.

“To us the elephant symbolizes Kfir, the life that was, normalcy, the childhood that was stolen,” she says.

“This week — with painful timing — the elephant has finally been found.”

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