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The agreement to end the war between Israel and Hamas and free hostages still held in Gaza gives families tired of more than a year of waiting a ray of hope that they will finally see their loved ones. in life.

But hope is only part of the story. Many families of hostages were seized from Israel through Hamas on October 7 2023 there is no idea what the condition of their relatives is, or even if they are alive. And even those who have signs that their relatives have survived so far don’t know if the deal will last long enough to get them out.

“These are probably the most depressing days we have experienced in more than a year,” said Udi Goren – whose cousin Tal Haimi was killed defending kibbutz Nir Yitzhak from a Hamas attack, which brought of his body in Gaza – said at a press conference on Thursday.

Under the deal mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt, the final details of which were still being worked out on Thursday, the 98 hostages still held – not all alive – will be released in three phases.

The agreement follows months of failed attempts to reach an agreement, where the fate of the captives has become one of the most emotional issues in Israeli society. This drew thousands of people to the streets to support the hostages, whose relatives campaigned relentlessly for the Prime Minister. It’s Benjamin Netanyahu government to make an agreement for their freedom.

In the first six-week period of the agreement – where Netanyahu’s cabinet see you on friday to discuss — 33 hostages including children, women, the sick and the elderly will be released in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. In the second phase, the remaining male captives will be released, and in the third, the bodies of the remaining captives will be returned.

The structure means that even families whose relatives should be released in the first round can face an agonizing wait of up to six weeks.

But for families whose relatives are not scheduled to be released until the later stages, the uncertainty is greater, as both stages are based on Israel and Hamas agreeing to a permanent end to the war, a something that the right-wing members of Netanyahu’s coalition do not have. strongly disagree.

“I want to see nothing more than these people, my new relatives, to bring back their loved ones, to restore their lives, to stop this terrible suffering every day,” said Goren about other hostage families.

“On the other hand, for us, what was not included in the first part, this is not the end of the road. This is just the beginning of a new phase of our struggle.”

Joshua Hantman, who helped set up a forum representing hostage families, said the families and “the whole country” were preparing for “another round of torture”.

“Even for the families who are on the list (for the first phase) it is not a period of unbridled joy,” he said. “This is a period of anxiety with a small sliver of hope.”

“It’s a strange uncertainty, after 469 days of pain . . . There are reports of people being kept in tunnels all the time, of people being kept in cages. No one knows what their condition is. “

Hamas seized 250 hostages during its attack on October 7, more than 100 of whom were released during a brief truce in late 2023. Some others were rescued by Israeli forces. Israeli officials estimate that more than a third of the remaining captives are no longer alive.

For many relatives, and especially those of the hostages who died in captivity, the grief is compounded by the uneasy feeling that the agreement – the broad plan first outlined by US President Joe Biden in May last year – must have been struck. immediately.

Gil Dickmann, whose cousin Carmel Gat was killed last year by Hamas after 11 months in captivity, said the families want answers as to why it has taken so long to agree to a deal. “The way I see it, the only thing that has changed between May and now is that more hostages have died, including Carmel, and Trump is now president,” he said.

But he said that for now the most important thing is to implement it completely. “We demand that all the parties involved do everything they can so that we can get a full deal with all the hostages, because it is not done until all the hostages come home,” he said. “This is a good start. This is the beginning of the end. But it won’t be the end until all the hostages go home. “