Shortly before the handover of hostages began, Hadar did not alter her routine as an employee on a cow farm in Kibbutz Mefalsim, at the gates of the Gaza Strip. This 25-year-old girl, survivor of the October 7 attack perpetrated by Hamas, had this Sunday, in the first hours of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, her sights set on the release of Emily Damari, 28, a companion of school and one of the first three kidnapped on the list of those released. “I’m optimistic, but I don’t trust them, although I hope everything goes well,” he summarized before the Red Cross confirmed that he was in good health. As he spoke, the passes of an Israeli army drone sounded in the air, perfectly visible in the sky. Although they are not on the list of the 33 scheduled to be released in the first phase of the agreement, Hadar also had words of remembrance for two other acquaintances, the twins Ziv and Gali Berman, who still remain captive.
Early in the afternoon, the first television images in Gaza showed the hostages in the middle of a tumult dominated by armed men with Hamas badges about to put them in the hands of the Red Cross. In parallel, the Palestinian prisoners for whom they have been exchanged wait in the Israeli prison of Ofer, on the outskirts of Ramallah, the administrative capital of the West Bank.
On the horizon of the plain on this clear and bright day dotted with a handful of clouds, some columns of smoke can still be seen from the latest attacks by Israeli troops on the north of the Palestinian enclave. Meanwhile, not far from troop positions, several tractors plow the Israeli farmland surrounding the separation fence. Highway 232, which marks the scene of the Hamas-led massacre of some 1,200 people 15 months ago, is dotted with altars in memory of the victims.
signs of joy
Inside the Strip, the Gazans are showing signs of joy at what is considered a victory against one of the most prepared armies in the world. This is how Samir Zaqout, 58 years old and deputy director of the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, understands it. “In the end we won despite this genocide,” he points out through voice messages sent from the southern part of the Strip in which he also refers to the attempts of the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to ensure that the peace process does not get ahead.
“The last ceasefire was short-lived,” adds Hadar, who, like other interviewees, prefers not to give his last name. It refers to the only days of truce, the last week of November 2023, experienced so far in the present war. Since then, life has been regaining its pulse in the Mefalsim kibbutz, where the 5,000 cows and fruit trees are the basis of the economy of its thousand inhabitants.
There were no murders within this community, but several young people who were trying to escape from the Nova festival fell into the hands of the attackers near the access fence. Their faces on the shoulder with candles and messages watch the vehicles pass. Kushy, 74, with half a century of experience growing fruit trees in the area, witnessed some of these deaths. He explains how he managed to get a young couple to safety by taking them in his vehicle and how he himself was miraculously saved from the shots with which they tried to hit him.
“This is a confusing day. We won’t believe it until we see them,” says Kushy. He insists that he will never give up hope, but after years of working side by side with Gazans and Palestinians from the West Bank in agricultural work, he makes it clear that trust has collapsed after what happened on October 7, 2023. He insists that Some of the attackers were employees of Mefalsim and that will make it difficult to resume the old employment relationship. In this sense, he does not trust that Hamas will fulfill the commitment of three phases of truce over six weeks each. “But we need time to know,” he concludes.
