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Tal Hartuv has a jagged scar on his chest, one of 18 knife wounds inflicted on his body in the brutal attack outside. Jerusalem In 2010 he murdered his friend. Next to the 7-centimetre (3-inch) mark is a dog tag that reads “Our hearts are in captivity”. Gaza,” a popular symbol of support for the ceasefire agreement in exchange for Israeli hostages. palestinian Prisoner.
On Friday, many people were celebrating an agreement between Israel and Hamas After two years of war, Hartuv read a list of Palestinian prisoners being released and saw the name of Iyad Hassan Hussein Fatafata – one of the three men who had tried to kill her and who was convicted of the murder of her friend, American tourist Christine Lucan.
Survivors like Hartuv and the families of those killed in the attacks have faced a dire dilemma throughout the war: should the murderers of their loved ones be freed, risking future attacks, or should the hostages being held in the Gaza Strip be left to their fate?
“I can’t help but feel thrilled, hopeful and happy that our hostages are coming home,” said Hartuv, who changed her name as part of her rehabilitation. “But I can still feel angry, I can feel betrayed, I can feel hollow. Those are not mutually exclusive,” she said.
No one from the Israeli government contacted him to inform him that he would possibly be released. He got this list from a journalist.
As of Monday, Hamas is to begin releasing the remaining 48 Israeli hostages held in Gaza, about 20 of whom are believed to survive. Israel will release about 2,000 Palestinians, including senior militants convicted of deadly attacks as well as those convicted of minor crimes and those held without charges under administrative detention.
‘We need to bring them back’
Twenty-two years ago, a suicide bomber blew up Bus 37 in the northern Israeli city of Haifa, killing 17 people, including nine children walking home from school.
Israel blamed five Palestinians for aiding the attacker. Three were released in exchange for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured in Gaza in 2011. The fourth was issued during the last ceasefire earlier this year.
For years, Yossi Zur, whose 17-year-old son, Assaf, was killed in the 2003 Haifa bombing, was a leader in campaigning against releases, particularly against the 2011 exchange that freed 1,027 Palestinian prisoners.
Zur remembers being heartbroken as the buses were filled with convicted terrorists being released from prison.
Those released in the Shalit deal include Yahya Sinwar, who masterminded the October 7, 2023 attack that started the war. Sinwar became a top leader of Hamas before he was killed by Israeli soldiers last year.
“It was my failure to protect my son, and now I am no longer able to keep his murderers from getting out of jail,” Zur said.
But when fellow activists approached him to protest a ceasefire in the ongoing war, he refused.
He said, “With the number of people taken on October 7, and the age range, I came to the conclusion that it would not be worth the fight this time.” “We need to get them back.”
The worst hostage crisis Israel has faced
Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people and abducted 251 in the October 7 attack.
More than 67,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israeli counterattacks, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which did not say how many of the dead were militants.
In the last ceasefire this year, Israel freed about 1,800 Palestinians in exchange for 25 hostages and the bodies of eight others, including about 230 people serving long sentences for deadly attacks. Most of the prisoners convicted of deadly attacks were deported.
This time, Israel is expected to release about 250 prisoners serving long sentences, as well as about 1,700 people captured from Gaza over the past two years and held without charge.
After the previous release, jubilant crowds welcomed him home, adding to the anguish of the families of the Israeli victims.
‘I want to try to make Israel a safe place’
Ron Kahrman’s 17-year-old daughter, Tal, a popular high school senior who loved singing and doodling, was also murdered on Bus 37. He still cries whenever he thinks about her.
He says that it feels better to focus on his activism.
He strongly opposes the release of Palestinian prisoners, saying it is about stopping the attacks.
“I want to try to make Israel a safe place,” he said. The October 7 attack, he said, occurred “because of the government’s mistake in releasing terrorists for Shalit”.
“If a young man knows this at one point, if he succeeds in killing IsraelHe will be released, so why should he not do it?” Kehrman said. “Israel needs to break the equation of releasing hostages by releasing terrorists.”
decision to maintain sympathy
Since receiving news of her attacker’s impending release, Hartuv has felt herself drowning in feelings of anger and betrayal. When that happens, she said, she pulls up a photo of a hostage or their victimized parent on her phone and looks into their eyes.
“It doesn’t melt me, but it makes room for empathy and reminds me that there is another side to the coin,” she said.
He said, “This does not diminish my sense of anger at the Israeli government, or their reticence in not contacting me, or my sense of betrayal at Western governments that did not hold Hamas accountable, but it does assuage my sense of injustice to some extent.”
It’s this ability to move back and forth between heartbreaking stories, holding space for both, that Hartuv wants more people to emulate. He believes the Israeli discussion has become so focused on the hostages that people raising questions about the value of the deal have been sidelined. She does not want to stop the deal, but after the return of the hostages, she wants some recognition for the price that Israel and her in particular had to pay, and fears that this could lead to more attacks.
He said, “If you understand how necessary it is for Israel, but also how difficult it is, it will make the release of the hostages more spectacular.”