Hostages’ families assemble near Gaza border as nation anxiously awaits their return

Crowds line road near Re’im military base, where captives are set to arrive after transfer to Israel; thousands gather at Hostages Square to watch release unfold

The families of some of the Gaza hostages headed to the IDF’s Re’im base, near the Gaza border, on Monday morning, in preparation for their loved ones’ release, as supporters gathered at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv to watch the developments unfold from afar.

Dozens of flag-waving Israelis gathered outside the Re’im base, cheering on the families that arrived to be reunited with their loved ones and waiting to welcome the freed hostages once they make their way to hospitals in central Israel.

Several people were gathered on the road directly outside the base, across from an idling convoy of Magen David Adom emergency vehicles and police cruisers. Some dance and clap as cars pass them by.

Others celebrating the hostages’ return lined other sections of Route 232, the main highway in the area, forming a cordon to salute those returning from two years of captivity.

The families were told to arrive at the Re’im facility by 7:30 a.m. on Monday, before Hamas began to transfer seven living hostages to the Red Cross.

The hostages were being released in two batches, with the remaining living hostages be released at 10 a.m. from Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

Hamas is required to release all 48 hostages — 20 living and 28 believed to be dead — by Monday at noon.

However, the terror group has said it will not be able to locate all the dead hostages within that deadline, and Israel is aware of this.

Prime Minister’s Office spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian said on Sunday afternoon that once Israel confirms it has received all the hostages it is expecting to receive, it will begin to free nearly 2,000 Palestinian security prisoners in exchange, including 250 life-termers.

On Sunday evening, the government’s hostage point man Gal Hirsch told Channel 12 that Israel did not know how many dead hostages Hamas would hand over on Monday, nor who it would hand over.

“We will continue in our efforts to locate them and to bring them back. The mission will not be completed tomorrow,” he said.

To that end, some of the families of dead hostages have been told by authorities that the bodies of their loved ones may not be returned on Monday, or even in the first stage of the deal.

As the transfer was set to start, Hamas’s military wing published the names of 20 living hostages set to be released Monday morning, in a move similar to previous hostage releases.

The list included the same hostages whose names had already been given to Israel earlier in the negotiations, and who were confirmed to be released as part of the deal covering living hostages.

Not included in the group are the names of kidnapped soldier Tamir Nimrodi and Nepali national Bipin Joshi, for whose lives Israel has said it has “grave concerns.”

Israel had confirmed the deaths of the remaining 26 hostages.

As the families of the hostages made the trip down south to greet their loved ones after two years in captivity, thousands of members of the public gathered at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv in anticipation of the releases and to support the families from afar.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum had encouraged the public to gather at the square overnight, billing it as a “yellow night” — a play on the phrase “white night,” the Hebrew term for all-nighter.

One attendee told Channel 12 that he arrived at the square at 2 a.m., having made the trip down from northern Israel for the occasion.

Many were draped in Israeli flags and held posters of the hostages as they sat, waiting, in the yellow plastic chairs set up in front of the large screens, which in the coming hours would begin broadcasting the hostages’ return to Israel, but which at 5 a.m. were playing a video montage of the two-year campaign for the hostages’ freedom.

Many in the crowd applauded when the video showed US President Donald Trump announcing during a White House meeting last week that he received word that a deal was close at hand.

Behind the scenes, negotiations on some of the finer details of the first phase of the ceasefire and hostage release deal appeared to be continuing down to the wire, as the government held an emergency vote in the early hours of the morning to approve last-minute changes to the list of Palestinian prisoners being released in exchange for the hostages.

The vote was called after two prisoners on the list of those slated for release were found to be ineligible — one of them having already been released from prison and the other having ties to Fatah, rather than Hamas.

The ministers were asked to approve adding two Hamas-affiliated prisoners in their place, neither of whom was serving a life sentence.

Other changes were also made to the list of Gazans arrested since October 7 who did not take part in the attack and are thus eligible for release, including the removal of seven minors from the list and replacing them with seven other Gazans, including two women.

Earlier on Sunday, the heads of Israel’s defense establishment met with select government ministers to hammer out some of the issues surrounding the deal and its implementation.

During the meeting, the Kan public broadcaster reported, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, who headed up Israel’s team during the negotiations, was asked how Israel would respond should Hamas fail to return all the dead hostages.

Dermer, in response, said that in such a scenario, Israel still has “control of more than 50 percent of the Strip’s territory, and the reconstruction of Gaza, which has not yet begun.”

According to Kan, Shin Bet chief David Zini, who assumed the role earlier this month, informed the officials that Hamas was “in the most difficult situation it has been in since the start of the war.”

Dermer was also said to have reiterated during the meeting that Israel would not release a single Palestinian security prisoner “until we receive every last living hostage.”

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.