The friends and families of Daniella Gilboa, Liri Albag, Naama Levy, and Karina Ariev watched with excitement as the four young women were released from Gaza after 477 days in Hamas captivity. Spontaneous celebrations took place in each of their hometowns, and cries of joy were heard as it became clear they were truly coming home.
In the moshav of Yarhiv in central Israel, home to Liri Albag, 19, a spontaneous celebration and parade took place. The village children went door to door, distributing Israeli flags. Amir Malachi, Liad Daphna, and Dvir Hadad, all 13 years old, helped organize.
“We saw on TV that she returned, but my dad didn’t see because he keeps Shabbat,” Hadad said. They noted that their youth movement guide, Peleg, organized the event together with Liat Malachi, Amir’s mother, and Galit Adam.
“We’re on cloud nine,” Ariella Aksham of Yarhiv said. “It was a year and a half of nightmares, waking up thinking about Liri, going to sleep thinking about Liri.”
“With all the hostages, but especially one who is ours, from the village,” fellow moshav member Galit Adam added.
“Seeing her on TV, smiling, refreshed, happy—it’s so emotional,” Aksham said. “Her parents, Eli and Shira, went through hell, an incredibly hard period. But we believed they would come back. We talked about it on the way, during all the prayer services we held with the family, we knew. Still, there’s a heavy feeling for the hostages who have not returned.”
Daniella Shamchi, a resident of the village and a history teacher, said that she and her friend debated whether to go wake their Sabbath-observing neighbors and tell them about the release. “We are really excited,” she said. “The moshav is small, everyone knows everyone.”
Menachem Levin, a rabbi and founder of the Chabad house in the moshav, told Davar that the residents of the moshav weren’t sure whether Albag would actually be released. “But we were praying for it,” he said. “Just yesterday, I was at the family’s home, and we brought them a special candlestick for Liri.”
Levin shared that the Albag family was new to the moshav, and that he had had a chance encounter with them a few months before the attack. “Since then, we’ve visited them several times, and at their request, our Torah scroll, which is here nearby, spent many days in her room,” he said. “We even managed to get her a note from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, which hangs in their home.”
Celebrations in Petah Tikva
In the neighborhood of Daniella Gilboa, 20, in Petah Tikvah, hundreds gathered to celebrate her return. Among the celebrants were Talia Dan, 19, Shira Kamar, 20, and Rotem Dasht, 20, Gilboa’s classmates.
“I’m so excited that she’s back with us,” Dasht said. “This is worth more than anything. We’re waiting for everyone.”
Kamar said that the whole neighborhood had come out to celebrate. “We don’t have words to describe the excitement. We waited for her more than for anything else,” she said.
Joy, and Impatience, at Hostages Square
Hundreds gathered at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, where large screens showed live broadcasts of the hostages’ release. Alongside the joy, those present didn’t forget about those still in captivity. During one break in the broadcast, the announcer read aloud the names of all 90 hostages still held captive, and after each name, the crowd shouted, “Now!”
Arnon Hershkovitz, 49, from Hod Hasharon said he feels “mixed emotions” about the young women’s release. “On one hand, huge joy and relief—I saw them getting out of the cars, and it was an immense happiness,” he said. “But there are still 90 people that need to be brought out.”
Hershkovitz, who is involved in a project that uses virtual reality glasses to present the events of the Nova festival massacre, said that he has been volunteering for the Hostage Families Forum for a long time. “Far too long,” he said.
This article was translated from Hebrew by Leah Schwartz.
