‘Emotional roller coaster’ for families awaiting Gaza swop deal
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Ms Hadas Kalderon, whose husband and children are being held hostage, crying during a protest in Tel Aviv on Nov 21.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
Follow topic:
JERUSALEM – Emotions were running high among Israeli and Palestinian families on Nov 23 after a deal to free hostages
The breakthrough swop, set to be staggered over four days, was now due to start on Nov 24 with the freeing of 13 Israeli women and children and the reciprocal release of some 30 Palestinian women and male teenagers.
The deal was pushed back overnight, Israeli officials said, drawing out the anguish for families of the about 240 hostages seized by Hamas militants on Oct 7
“We’ve already been on an emotional roller coaster for 47 days and today is no different,” said Mr Eyal Kalderon, 38, whose cousin Ofer was kidnapped along with his two children – Erez, who turned 12 in captivity, and Sahar, who is 16.
“We are hoping at the very least that the children will come back as soon as possible,” Mr Kalderon said. “Time is running out and they can’t wait any more – not them, not the elderly people, nor those who are sick or wounded.”
Standing at his side, Mr Kalderon’s twin sister Yael said they were trying to keep their hopes in check, but it was difficult with the situation in flux.
“We are trying not to get our hopes up too much, and we will only be able to breathe easy when we see them with our own eyes, with the Red Cross,” she told AFPTV.
“But it’s hard to ignore the news, and it shakes you up.”
News that 13 hostages would be released at 4pm (10pm Singapore time) on Nov 24 was likely to cause more emotional turmoil among the families, said a doctor working with the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
It is supporting more than 1,000 close family members who have people held in Gaza.
“Imagine what it’s like for the families,” said Professor Hagai Levine, who heads its medical team.
“Some know it’s probably not their time because it’s women and children but still there’s hope: ‘Maybe my beloved will be released’, they just don’t know.
“Now they have this uncertainty for 24 hours... Imagine the unbelievable tension: ‘Is it my beloved or not?’”
The hostages would be handed to the Red Cross, then passed on to the Israeli army with doctors on hand to meet them, although the families would not meet them at the handover site “for safety issues”.
‘The best birthday present’
The Kalderon siblings said their cousin Ofer would be marking his 53rd birthday in captivity in Gaza on Nov 25, after his son Erez turned 12 on Oct 27.
“For Ofer, the best present will be knowing that his children are coming back to us here, and will be with their mum Hadas and with the whole loving family,” Eyal said.
Under the terms of the four-day truce agreement, 50 hostages from Israel will initially be exchanged for 150 Palestinian prisoners, with the potential for further swops at the same ratio.
The Israeli authorities have published a list of 300 eligible detainees, without specifying the order of release.
An Israeli official source said the prisoner handover would happen after the hostages were safely in Israel’s hands, with those slated for release coming from three prisons in Israel and the occupied West Bank.
“They will be taken to Ofer military camp on buses belonging to the prisons authority” and would be freed there, the source said, referring to a camp near Ramallah in the West Bank.
In Beit Safafa town in annexed east Jerusalem, the mother of one 23-year-old Palestinian prisoner said tension had skyrocketed after the deal was delayed.
“Only God knows how bad I feel,” said Ms Fatina Salman, whose daughter Malak was arrested on her way to school when she was 16 for trying to stab a policeman in Jerusalem.
“I can’t think any more, we are waiting and I’m scared something will go wrong,” she said.
“Every development stresses me,” she said, her voice trembling. “I haven’t slept since we were told about an agreement. I worry all the time.” AFP
