Report from Tel Aviv from the so-called ‘hostage square’.

It must be the last Sabbath without their loved ones. The tables are already covered with white tablecloths inside the large city library on the so-called ‘hostage square’ in the Israeli capital Tel Aviv. The families of the Israeli hostages will soon have a Shabbat meal there together. Outside on the square, hundreds of people celebrate the moment with them.

Earlier that Friday, a ceasefire between the militant group Hamas and Israel came into effect at noon. With the withdrawal of the Israeli army from parts of the Gaza Strip, Hamas has 72 hours under the agreement to release the twenty surviving hostages and hand over the bodies of the estimated 28 dead hostages. Families may have to wait longer. According to US President Donald Trump – whose team brokered the deal – it could also take until Tuesday.

But the atmosphere on the square in Tel Aviv is certainly hopeful. Itzik Horn, the father of hostage Eitan Horn, cheerfully steps up to a television camera for an interview – of which he has given so many over the past two years. “Look at him, he’s almost hopping,” notes a volunteer assisting the families. “We haven’t seen that before.” After the conversation, he receives a hug from the journalist who interviewed him.

‘The average Israeli does not realize how the country has ended up in the global spotlight’

A large group of people gather around a small string orchestra. As the sun sets, they sing along softly. First the national anthem, then Lu Jehi – the Israeli version of ‘Let It Be’ from the time of the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

Later is also ‘Eli Eli’ can be heard. “That moves me,” says Dafna Heiman (33). “This is the song we listen to on Yom Hashoah – the day we commemorate the Holocaust.” It is a song of hope, and that fits the moment, says Heiman. “People are happy, but also afraid, afraid of what will happen in the coming days. We don’t know which hostages are still alive.”

Future of Gaza uncertain

As Israel anxiously awaits the arrival of the hostages on Friday, tens of thousands of Gazans have begun returning to the largely devastated northern coastal strip. Their future is uncertain.

Will the ceasefire hold? Will an international government come and rebuild their homes? This Saturday, the first of a total of two hundred American soldiers will arrive in Israel to monitor the ceasefire – from a distance. Are they a harbinger of a much-discussed international force that will soon have to keep the peace within Gaza?

These are decisions that the negotiators in the Egyptian seaside resort of Sharm el-Sheikh have conveniently postponed until the next phase of the negotiations.

Zoom in

It is also not what concerns the people in Hostages Square in Tel-Aviv. “People here don’t trust anything or anyone until the hostages are back,” says Yonatan (21), who, as a soldier, prefers not to have his surname published. He just got back from Gaza one day. Despite his flaxen beard and summer civilian outfit, there is still a grenade launcher hanging on the back of his back. “I want to make people feel safe here.”

‘We are only concerned with ourselves’

Can disarming Hamas and a possible international administration in Gaza also provide a sense of security among Israelis, as far as Yonatan is concerned? “Only if Trump does it, not the United Nations – we don’t trust them. How often do you hear them about the hostages?” Friends and family urge Yonatan not to tell them that he is from Israel when he goes on holiday to Europe soon. “I can’t get my head around that.”

But the average Israeli does not realize the extent to which Israel has ended up in global oblivion, says Benjamin Birely (35) – who is himself doing a PhD at the University of Naples. “They don’t think about it. We are only concerned with ourselves at the moment. The attack of October 7 and everything that followed is the greatest tragedy in Jewish history since the Holocaust. It is all-consuming.”

Zoom in

According to Birely, something similar applies to the fact that an investigative committee of the United Nations Human Rights Council concluded last month that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. “It’s just not the conversation most of us are having. I understand that from the outside it seems quite narrow-minded.”

But look at it this way, says Birely. “If your neighbors throw a Molotov cocktail through your window, kidnap your cousin and kill your parents, you don’t care much if that conflict spreads to the rest of the neighborhood. Then you first want your cousin back and mourn your parents.”

According to Birely, the collective mourning process in Israel can only begin when all hostages are returned. Only then, he believes, will the conversation about Gaza and the nearly seventy thousand Palestinian deaths get underway.

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