Australia/Israel Review

Four hundred and seventy-one days. Four hundred and seventy-one days after they were dragged away into the dark underworld of Hamas captivity, where nobody knows what hell they endured, Romi Gonen, 24, Emily Damari, 28, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, emerged into the light on the afternoon of Sunday, January 19. 

And they were not merely standing and walking but also, incredibly, in some of the very first clips and pictures, smiling.

Emily’s beaming face as she and her mother phoned their family, her bandaged left hand waving – two fingers missing from where she was shot on that worst of all days, October 7, 2023 – took the national breath away. (Hamas gunmen who burst into her home at Kibbutz Kfar Aza shot her dog, she has reportedly told her family and friends in her first conversations with them, and she was hit, too, as she tried to comfort her dying pet.)

And then, minutes later, the pictures of all three of these young women embracing their mothers surely moved many Israelis, and others all over the world who love this country and its people, to tears of joy and relief.

Romi cradled by her mother Meirav, a gracious, noble presence in innumerable television interviews through the many awful months.

Emily and her mother, Mandy, during that first phone call with the rest of the family.

And Doron, her face not visible, hand covering her eyes, her cheek against her mother Simona’s, hugging each other like they’ll never let go.

Fourteen months since the last deal with Hamas, fears had mounted inexorably for the almost 100 hostages still captive in Gaza.

The nation waited, month after month after month – blaming Hamas, blaming Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, blaming both – for the agreement that never came.

It held its breath, after this new deal was finally reached, signed, approved and supposed to take effect, when Hamas delayed the release of the names of these first three to be freed.

And it watched with no little dread on that Sunday afternoon when dozens of Hamas gunmen, hailed by a large cheering crowd, commandeered Gaza City’s Saraya Square for a wild, self-aggrandising daylight ceremony before a vast global audience.

But in a few frenzied seconds, it was done: Doron, Emily and Romi scrambled the five or so paces from one vehicle to another, one reality to another – from Hamas to the International Committee of the Red Cross, and thence to merciful Israeli safety.

The joy and relief are heartfelt and deep, but no, not overwhelming.

Because nobody can forget for a second that this first, six-week phase of the deal has only just begun. And given that not all of the 33 women, children and men to be freed in this so-called humanitarian phase are alive, there will be much that is terrible before it is over.

Because nobody can forget that the agreement comes at the price of the release of hundreds of the most dangerous terrorists, many, likely most, of whom have every intention of killing again.

Because nobody can forget that Hamas aims to use this deal, as it has always intended to use the hostages it seized, to enable its revival.

Because nobody can forget that 94 hostages are, unthinkably, still held captive in Gaza.

David Horovitz is the founding editor of the Times of Israel. He is the author of Still Life with Bombers (2004) and A Little Too Close to God (2000), and co-author of Shalom Friend: The Life and Legacy of Yitzhak Rabin (1996). © Times of Israel (timesofisrael.com), reprinted by permission, all rights reserved.