Family and friends of released Israeli hostage Omer Shem Tov clapped, burst into tears and popped bottles of champagne as they watched him walk free on Saturday after being handed over by Hamas in Gaza.
Shem Tov was among six Israeli captives freed by Palestinian militants as part of the seventh hostage-prisoner swap to take place under the first phase of a fragile truce which took effect last month.
Militants released four hostages seized in Hamas’s unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and two men who had been held captive for a decade.
Images published by the military showed an elated Shem Tov reuniting with his parents at a reception centre inside Israel.
“You have no idea how much I’ve dreamt of you!” he told them mid-embrace. “So have we,” his parents replied. “You are your mother’s life,” Shelly Shem Tov told her son.
Earlier in the day, Hamas militants had paraded Shem Tov along with Eliya Cohen and Omer Wenkert on stage in central Gaza’s Nuseirat area, where they waved and held release certificates before being handed over to the Red Cross.
In the central Israeli town of Gadera, dozens of Wenkert’s friends waited on tenterhooks for his release, before celebrating with cheers and dancing.
“I saw the look on his face, he’s calm, he knows he’s coming back home. He knows his friends and family wait for him,” said Wenkert’s friend Rory Grosz.
“He’s a real hero. He’s my hero.”
The first hostages released on Saturday were Tal Shoham, abducted in the 2023 attack, and Avera Mengistu, who had spent more than 10 years in captivity in Gaza.
The pair appeared pale and dazed as they were brought onto a rainy stage in the south Gaza city of Rafah.
Dozens of relatives, friends and supporters of Mengistu cheered and clapped as they watched footage of his release in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon.
“We feel like we’re on cloud nine, overwhelmed with happiness — it’s a day of celebration,” said relative Gili Elias, describing the moment as “closure”.
Mengistu’s family said in a statement that they had endured more than a decade of “unimaginable suffering” during his captivity.
Images published by the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showed Mengistu embracing his family as he arrived at an Israeli reception centre.
– ‘Long-awaited moment’ –
Emotions ran high in the Israeli commercial hub of Tel Aviv, where hundreds gathered in intermittent rain to watch the captives’ releases in the plaza dubbed Hostages Square.
As the men walked to freedom, the crowd clapped and wept. One spectator held up a placard reading “rain of tears and hope”.
Cohen’s family said they were “overwhelmed with emotion and gratitude for Eliya’s return home after 505 long and torturous days in captivity.”
“Seeing him today strengthens us and gives us great hope for the long rehabilitation process ahead,” the family added.
A sixth captive, Hisham al-Sayed, also arrived back in Israel on Saturday after being handed over to the Red Cross following nearly 10 years in captivity.
“The Sayed family is moved by Hisham’s return home,” they said in a statement.
“After nearly a decade of fighting for Hisham’s return, the long-awaited moment has arrived.”
In exchange for the hostages, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group said Israel would free around 600 inmates on Saturday, most of them Gazans arrested during the war.
Hamas and its allies took 251 people captive during the attack that sparked the war. There are 62 hostages still in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli military says are dead.
