I’ve been watching them, again and again and again. The videos of children embracing their parents for the first time in over a month, as they get released from captivity in Gaza thanks to the ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel — making their ways in Red Cross vehicles back to shores of safety, getting that embrace they’ve been waiting for since that dreadful October 7. I wipe the tears from my eyes and click again for another replay.
I have complicated feelings about these videos. More than anything,I have wanted for these families to heal in privacy and peace,有时,我感觉不舒服,我们都是infringing on these intimate moments. Yet these are monumental reunifications, ones that are probably important for these families to have immortalized. They’re also a reminder of the incredible joy and impossible pain of this moment. Not only are these families missing other loved ones still held captive in Gaza — fathers and grandfathers — but there are so many families that will never be together again because of this war. Meanwhile, those who are back are forever changed. In the small, lovely faces of the dozens of children who are now back home, you can clearly see the ghosts of the terror they went through in captivity.
And yet, it is worth it to celebrate these moments that have come in no small part to the relentless fight from the families of those taken.
Yoni Asher was reunited with his wife Doron and daughters Raz, 4, and Aviv, 2, last Friday, as part of the first group of hostages released. A video of them reuniting in the hospital was shared, with Yoni squeezing his three loved ones tight, little Raz on one knee and Aviv being held by her mother. “Chaim sheli,” he says, “my life,” then asks, “Did you miss me, did you think of me? Did you think good thoughts about me?”
“All the time,” Doron sweetly answers as little Raz nods along.
“I dreamt that we went back home,” Raz tells her father in the video.
“And here the dream is about to be true, we’re going to be home soon,” he tells her.
The woman sitting in front of Doron strokes her hair, and you see her crying for a minute, her mask of resilience breaking into a mix of despair and intense relief.
After 49 heart-wrenching days, Yoni Asher gets to hold his wife, Doron, and little girls – Aviv and Raz – again.pic.twitter.com/wIOSm6T4q8
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas)November 25, 2023
Maayan Zin was finally reunited with her daughters on Sunday. Zin has been fighting tirelessly to be reunited with them, after they were captured from their father’s home in Nir Oz, where he was killed along with his girlfriend and her son on October 7. She even begged Israeli leaders to send her to Gaza to be with them, if they couldn’t ensure the girls’ release. The things she says to her two girls, Dafna, 15, and Ela, 8, are impossibly moving to me, because it’s exactly how I talk to my own sons in Hebrew. She takes on that mom voice, the one that’s resilient and sweet for her children, so that they know they have a mom to lean on when they need to break down.
“Shalom yafot sheli,” she greets them melodically, meaning “hello my beautiful [girls].” “Dafna shel ima” — “Mommy’s Dafna,” she greets her oldest, hugging her tightly. “Eize metukot aten,” she says, meaning “how sweet you are,” then adds, “ani ohevet et shteichen aval mamash” — “I love the both of you so much.”
My precious daughters were returned to me yesterday, a moment etched forever in my memory. Thank you for making it happen.pic.twitter.com/wuPXDQYxTi
— Maayan Zin (@ZinMaayan1007)November 27, 2023
The reunification of the Avigdori family on Saturday is another video that I’ve watched over and over and over through tears. The love in this family is so palpable and special.
Chen Avigdori, a TV writer who is usually more comfortable with his role behind the scenes, has been taking the microphone over and showing his face on camera in the last month of fighting for this moment, since half of his nuclear family who were visiting family in Be’eri were captured. In this latest video, he is there with his teenage son, Omer, who stayed home with his father that Saturday, as they reunite with the love of his life and his daughter.
“How I missed you,” he tells his daughter who is wailing with tears, then he hugs his wife, Sharon. It’s such a moment of love, and of heartbreak and relief. You can see him breaking down after all these weeks of steely fighting, letting himself feel the pain and leaning on the woman he promised to spend the rest of his life with.
First unification by the Avigdori Family 24 hours ago in an Israeli hospital Shiba.
פרסום הרגעים הראשונים של מפגש משפחת אביגדורי אתמול בלילה. (לע״מ)pic.twitter.com/6ed8zFylAc
— Tal Schneider טל שניידר تال شنايدر (@talschneider)November 26, 2023
A lot of children have been finding comfort in being reunited with their pets — so much so that the hospitals have let the families bring the family dogs into the hospitals. This video of the kids of the Brodetz family — Oriya, Yuval and Ofri — reuniting with their dog Rodney is too precious for words. The kids were captured with their mother, Hagar, who also returned with them. Their father, Avichai, started sitting outside Israel’s military headquarters in the Kirya in Tel Aviv with a sign reading, “My family is in Gaza,” early after October 7, as a way to draw attention to his grief and fight for the return of his loved ones.
הילדים של משפחת ברודץ פוגשים את רודני, הכלב שלהם. קרדיט: בית חולים שניידרpic.twitter.com/2mWXwrCJzj
— Tal Schneider טל שניידר تال شنايدر (@talschneider)November 28, 2023
There are no videos of Avigail, the 4-year-old American girl who lost her parents on October 7, but this photo of her smiling with her uncle and aunt definitely make my heart feel a little less heavy.
תמונות ראשונות של אביגיל עידן אחרי השחרור מידי מרצחי החמאס, 51 יום אחרי שנחטפה, ואחרי שאביה ואמה רועי וסמדר נרצחו מול עיניה. עם הדודה לירון, הדוד זולי, סבתא שלומית וסבא איתן.pic.twitter.com/ivfygFAcXY
— Tal Schneider טל שניידר تال شنايدر (@talschneider)November 27, 2023
The precocious Ohad Munder-Zichri, who got special attention from so many after he turned 9 while in captivity —including from “Seinfeld” star Jason Alexander——终于拥抱他的父亲。他跑进一个rms, while his mother, Keren, ran into the arms of his older half-brother, Roy. His grandmother Ruti also got a hug from a loved one.
ירדו לי דמעות. אוהד מונדר בן ה-9 פוגש את אבא שלו אחרי ששוחרר מהשבי של החמאס, שנמשך בעבורו 49 יום. פשוט מרגש ומגיע לכל משפחה ומשפחה של החטופים.pic.twitter.com/RVZwxCuu0e
— Alon-Lee Green – ألون-لي جرين – אלון-לי גרין (@AlonLeeGreen)November 25, 2023
Natthaphon Onkaew, Khomkrit Chombua, Anucha Angkaew and Manee Jirachat, fourThai nationals who were released on Sunday night, also got a pretty emotional welcome at Shamir hospital, where the workers greeted them with “hello” in Thai.
Last night: Israel medical team at Shamir hospital welcoming and embracing the three Thais nationals who were released with the 3rd group. Medical teams included social workers, physicians and psychologists.#HamasisISIS#HamasMassacre#HamasHostagepic.twitter.com/Wr65b9Ex5x
— Tal Schneider טל שניידר تال شنايدر (@talschneider)November 27, 2023
Some videos feel more fraught, as the details of what the kids who were alone in captivity went through come to the fore. Nine-year-old Emily Hand, an Irish-Israeli girl who was captured during a sleepover at her friend’s house — and whose father’s ex-wife, Narkis, a mother figure to her in Nir Oz, was killed — came back whispering, as she said Hamas threatened kids who made noise. Emily, who was initially believed to have been killed during the attack, hugged her father while her friend, Hila Rotem Shoshani, 13, hugged her uncle. Hila’s mother, Raya, who the girls spent their in captivity with, is still being held in Gaza.
在一个视频中,一个情感和面红耳赤的汤姆Hand is reunited with his daughter (“It was beautiful, just like I imagined it, running together,” he later told CNN), you can hear Hila’s uncle tell the teen, “Eize gibora” — “what a hero you are.”
NEW
Video of Emily Hand reuniting with her father and Hila Rotem Shoshani reuniting with her uncle.pic.twitter.com/6QGUOTN5Xw
— Yashar Ali (@yashar)November 26, 2023
The stories coming out of captivity have been too hard to bear, and these children have a lot of recovery left ahead of them. Still, this is also a moment of celebration, as this video ofHadas Kalderon, getting the news that she would be reunited with her son Erez, 12, and daughter Sahar, 16, attests. “There is a God!” she yells in a crowded mall, while hooting, “Erez and Sahar are on the list.”
מחר ב''זמן אמת'', 52 יום עם הדס קלדרון, מבשורות האיוב של השבת השחורה, דרך הקמת ''כוח האמהות'' מול משרד הביטחון, ההמתנה מורטת העצבים של הימים האחרונים, והרגע המצמרר לפני שלוש שעותpic.twitter.com/YIjeITjay8
— Avi Amit (@AviAmit26)November 27, 2023
All we can hope is that this moment is felt by many more, as the ceasefire extends.
