The Palestinian terror organization Hamas has handed over the last 20 surviving Israeli hostages to Israel. The bodies of 28 deceased hostages will also be returned. In exchange, Israel will release some 1,900 Palestinian prisoners. The news has been greeted with great joy in Israel.

Around 7:30 a.m. this morning, cheers erupted in Tel Aviv's so-called"Hostage Square." Thousands of Israelis had gathered there, awaiting the release of the last 20 surviving hostages. They had been held by the terrorist organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip for a staggering 737 days. The bodies of 28 deceased hostages were also handed over today.

The cheers coincide with the news that the first seven hostages have been handed over to the Red Cross. They are, as it turns out later, Matan Angrest, the brothers Gali and Ziv Berman, Alon Ohel, Eitan Mor, Omri Miran, and Guy Gilboa-Dalal.

There's hugging, crying, someone uncorking a bottle of sparkling wine, all before a single image of a hostage appears. It shows, above all, how emotionally charged the events are for the Israeli population.

"Everyone is deeply moved by the situation because they are deeply involved," says correspondent Sander Van Hoorn from Israel."Israel is a small country, comparable to Flanders. So everyone knows someone who was killed in Gaza, who was fighting there, or who died in the attack on October 7, 2023."

Welcome home

The hostages are transported in the white armored vehicles of the Red Cross to the Israeli army at the Gaza border. Finally, around 8:30 a.m., confirmation arrives that the seven are in the army's hands."Welcome home," tweets the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, along with photos of the first seven hostages.

As if perfectly timed, Trump's Air Force One lands at Tel Aviv Airport at that very moment. He is received by Prime Minister Netanyahu and will address the Israeli parliament there that morning, after which he will leave for the Gaza peace talks in Egypt."This is a new day, a new beginning," he later tells reporters. According to him,"the war is over."

Meanwhile, the soldiers are transporting the first hostages by helicopter to an army base in Re'im, in southern Israel, for a medical check-up and reunification with their families.

"I'm so excited," said Viki Cohen, the mother of hostage Nimrod Cohen, who is waiting for her son at the base in Re'im."I'm filled with happiness. It's hard to imagine how I feel right now. I haven't slept all night."

Palestinian prisoners

At 9:00 a.m., the Red Cross announced that it would be retrieving the remaining 13 Israeli hostages. A good hour later, news arrived that they, too, had returned to Israel.

LOOK AT

The white Red Cross SUVs take the hostages away:

Simultaneously, nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners were taken from their cells and put on a bus. As soon as it is certain that all the hostages are in Israel, including the 28 who have died, they will be returned to Gaza. They will be cared for at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

"I hope these images will mark the end of this war," says a Palestinian as he watches footage of the hostage transfer."We have lost friends and acquaintances. We have lost our homes and our city."

Hamas Terrorist Attacks on October 7, 2023 October 7, 2023, began with a massive airstrike on Israel, with thousands of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip. Thousands of fighters from the Palestinian extremist group Hamas, as well as ordinary Palestinian civilians, subsequently breached the heavily guarded border between Gaza and Israel in dozens of locations. Hamas carried out massacres at Israeli army bases and villages near the border. The terrorists also stormed the Nova music festival and shot people indiscriminately. A total of approximately 1,200 people were killed. The vast majority were Israeli civilians and soldiers, but some 80 foreigners were also among them. 251 people were taken hostage to the Gaza Strip. More than half of them were foreigners, or Israelis with dual citizenship. Most of them have since been released. Around fifty bodies of deceased hostages have also been transferred.

October 7 was the deadliest day for Israel since its founding, and the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust during World War II.