In Israel, and among its global supporters, not a single eye was left dry on Saturday when three men who have sadly become familiar to us all – Keith Siegel, Ofer Kalderon, and Yarden Bibas– were freed from Hamas captivity and brought home.
The personalities of these men—until October 7, ordinary, unknown citizens—were disseminated due to the activism and pressure of their families, who used every platform they had to shout for their return to tell us who they were. Several released hostages over the last two weeks testified that they were strengthened and encouraged in captivity by the news of the public fight for their return.
Five Thai workers who were also kidnapped on October 7 were released on Thursday, an exception to the planned first phase of the deal, during which 33 hostages are to be released over 42 days in exchange for 737 Palestinian security prisoners. Hamas is still holding 79 people hostage.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to fly to the United States at the start of this week for an anticipated meeting with President Donald Trump on Tuesday. This will be the first foreign leader to meet the president since he took office on January 20.
The first phase of the deal has a few more weeks to go, but negotiations on the second phase are slated to begin on Monday, the 16th day of the first phase, one day before the Netanyahu-Trump meeting.
Against all odds
The hostages that have been returned so far survived against all odds and with incomprehensible strength while being treated like animals by their captors and held in subhuman conditions, as well as in cages, and were starved and abused.
The emotional images we have seen over the past two weeks underscore just how vital this deal is and how vital it is that it continues.
Objectively, it is a bad deal – Israel is releasing prisoners who rightfully earned their cell spot, some with blood on their hands. But it is a deal that must continue to the end because we don’t leave our people behind.
Since taking office, as well as for some time before, Trump’s messaging was loud and clear: These images of war, this active conflict, must end. He has, so far, held up that pressure.
The problem is the conflict between the goals of the two sides in this war – Israel and Hamas. Israel would be willing to end the war if Hamas ceased to exist as a military, civilian, and political power – effectively volunteering to cease to exist.
Hamas’s stated goal is exactly the opposite: Israel withdraws from Gaza while Hamas retains control. These conflicting goals are going to bubble up and may challenge the endurance of the deal because the war won’t be over if Hamas is still in charge.
Trump doesn’t want to see Hamas leading Gaza any more than Jerusalem does. Netanyahu must use all the tools at his disposal to convince the president that the conflicting goals of Israel and Hamas can’t coexist. This would mean even more support for Israel should it eventually return to active fighting in the enclave.
As breathtaking and moving as the scenes are of families reunited, we must remember that in the last week of the first phase, Israel is set to receive the bodies of hostages killed on October 7 or in captivity.
This whole process is and will be marred with tragedy, which only adds more layers and nuances.
On Saturday, the Bibas family said, “Yarden is home. There are no words to describe the relief we feel to hold him, hug him, and hear his voice. Yarden is back, but the home is lacking. He is a father who left his safe room to protect his family, bravely survived captivity, and returned to an incomprehensibly difficult reality.” His wife, Shiri, and their two boys, Ariel and Kfir, remain in captivity.
Trump says he wants peace; Israel must leverage that momentum while it is alive and push for the next best stages of the deal it can achieve so that Hamas has no chance, ever again, of posing a terror threat to the Jewish state, like it once did.
Jesus Christ is King
