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Tel Aviv: Hamas’ release of the 20 living Israeli hostages on Monday brought one of the conflict’s darkest chapters to a close, amid hopes that the new ceasefire deal may also signal an end to two years of war in the devastated Gaza Strip.
In the hours that followed, the released hostages held tearful reunions with partners and relatives, many of whom had feared they would never see their loved ones again. Here are some of the reunions, in footage released by the Israeli government.
Avinatan Or, 32
The Hamas video of Avinatan Or and his partner Noa Argamani being abducted from the Nova music festival in southern Israel became one of the defining images of October 7, 2023.
Argamani was seen on an all-terrain vehicle, crying, “Don’t kill me!” and reaching out her arms to Or, who was being marched away by militants.
Noa Argamani pleads for her life while being driven away from the Nova festival on October 7.Credit: X
On Monday, the pair was finally reunited. An Israeli government video showed Or, 32, first hugging and kissing his parents as his mother Ditza chants the Jewish “shehecheyanu” blessing, voicing gratitude for new experiences on his return from two years in captivity in Gaza.
Noa Argamani and Avinatan Or reunite on Monday.
Or is then taken to a room where he finds Argamani, 28, who was rescued by Israeli special forces in Gaza along with three other hostages in June 2024. The two embrace and kiss, apparently overwhelmed by the moment.
Citing Channel 12, The Times of Israel reported that Or had been held entirely in isolation and did not see any other captives until his release.
Guy Gilboa-Dalal, 24
Guy Gilboa-Dalal was shown being greeted by relatives in an emotional homecoming video on Monday. He was also abducted from the Nova music festival, along with his childhood friend Evyatar David, while his brother managed to escape.
Another video released on Monday showed him reuniting with David in hospital. According to Israel’s Channel 12, the pair had been kept together in captivity before being separated about two months ago.
Evyatar David, 24
Evyatar David was shown being greeted by cheering crowds outside Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, before meeting relatives after 738 days in captivity. He was also taken hostage at the Nova festival with his friend Guy Gilboa-Dalal.
In August, Hamas released a video of a gaunt and pale David, who said he was digging his own grave.
The condition of the hostages in the videos horrified Israelis, with tens of thousands of protesters taking to the streets to demand a ceasefire deal, in one of the largest turnouts for the weekly hostage protests in months.
Elkana Bohbot, 36
Elkana Bohbot appeared in a video reuniting with his wife, Rivka, and their young son, Re’em David.
Bohbot was also kidnapped from the Nova music festival and, in the past year, Hamas has published multiple videos of him, filmed under duress, including one where he has a fake telephone conversation with his wife and son and his mother and his brother – pleading with them to help him get out of Gaza.
His son made binoculars in kindergarten, which he often uses to go out and “look for his father,” according to Bohbot’s mother, Ruhama.
Ariel and David Cunio
The Cunio brothers, David and Ariel, were reunited with their partners, Sharon and Arbel, as well as their parents, Sylvia and Luis, and their other brothers, Eitan and Lucas.
The youngest of the four brothers, Ariel was kidnapped from the Nir Oz kibbutz with his partner, Arbel Yehoud, and her brother, Dolev, a married father of four who was later killed in captivity. Yehoud was released during the ceasefire in January.
David Cunio was also kidnapped with his wife, Sharon, and their three-year-old twins from the Nir Oz kibbutz. Sharon’s sister, Danielle, and her five-year-old daughter, who were visiting, were also kidnapped. All were released in November, except for David.
Ariel and David Cunio with their family at the initial reception point after their release.Credit: Israeli Defence Forces
In July, Sharon shared a photo of the twins marking their fifth birthday, their second without their father, writing on Facebook that the girls have changed so much while he’s been in captivity that “they’re not the same little girls he knew.”
Eitan Mor, 25
Eitan Mor was filmed reuniting with his parents at an Israeli military base. Mor was working as a security guard at the Nova music festival, where he helped evacuate people injured in the attack. His parents helped found the Tikva Forum, a loosely organised group of hostage families.
Freed Israeli hostage Eitan Mor gestures from a van as he arrives at Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva.Credit: AP
They advocated for military pressure, not an immediate ceasefire or hostage release deal, as the best chance for bringing the hostages home; a stance that put Mor’s father at odds with many of the other hostage families.
Matan Zangauker, 25
Matan Zangauker’s tearful reunion with his mother, Einav, was shown in Israeli military footage.
“You’re my life,” she tells him. “My life. My hero. Come, come.”
Zangauker was kidnapped from kibbutz Nir Oz along with his girlfriend, Ilana Gritzewsky. The two met while working on a medical cannabis farm there. Gritzewsky was released after 55 days and advocated tirelessly for Zangauker’s release, wearing his hat, which she rescued from their burnt home.
His mother has been a constant presence at protests, giving impassioned speeches and even being hoisted in a cage above the crowd to draw attention to the hostages’ plight. Einav Zangauker, who said she was previously a Netanyahu supporter, has emerged as one of his harshest critics
Matan Angrest, 22
Matan Angrest, an Israeli soldier kidnapped from his tank in southern Israel on October 7, was released in the first group of hostages to be returned and later filmed reuniting with his family in hospital.
His mother, Anat Angrest, told Israel’s Channel 12 her son had suffered “very severe torture” because he was a soldier.
“He was alone for a long period, under special guard,” she said, adding that Matan told her he refused to break for the “monsters” who held him hostage.
Matan is the oldest of four children from Kiryat Bialik, outside of Haifa. His family has been among the most vocal protesters and very critical of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Gali Berman and Ziv Berman, 28
Gaza hostage Ziv Berman celebrates from a helicopter as he arrives at Chaim Sheba Medical Centre in Israel.Credit: Getty Images
Gali and Ziv Berman embrace on the Gaza Strip after being released by Hamas on Monday.Credit: Israeli Defence Forces
The fraternal twins were taken from their homes in kibbutz Kfar Aza, on the border with Gaza, during the October 7 attack. Seventeen others were also abducted from Kfar Aza, but the Berman twins are the only hostages from the kibbutz who remain in captivity.
The family has heard from hostages who returned in a previous deal that, as of February, the brothers were alive but being held separately. Liran Berman, their older brother, said it’s the longest the two have ever spent apart.
In Kfar Aza, the twins lived in apartments across from each other.
Gali is more outgoing, while Ziv is more reserved and shy with a sharp sense of humour, their brother said.
Alon Ohel, 24
Freed Israeli hostage Alon Ohel gestures from a van as he arrives at Beilinson hospital in Petah Tikva, Israel.Credit: AP
Alon Ohel, who also has German and Serbian citizenship, was kidnapped at the Nova music festival from a mobile bomb shelter along with Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American-Israeli who was killed in captivity in August 2024. Ohel is a talented pianist, and his family has placed pianos across Israel and several sites around the world to raise awareness of his plight.
Three other hostages who had been held with Ohel for more than a year were released during the previous ceasefire, including Eli Sharabi, who said Ohel was like his adopted son. Sharabi said they were kept chained for the entire period of their captivity and subsisted on a mouldy pita per day. Ohel has shrapnel in his eye from the attack on the bomb shelter, and his family is worried he may be partially blind.
Omri Miran, 48
Hostage Omri Miran was filmed reuniting on Monday with the children he had not seen for two years.
Miran was kidnapped from the Nahal Oz kibbutz. During the attack, militants held his family, including his two-year-old and six-month-old daughters, hostage in the kitchen of a neighbour’s house and broadcast it on Facebook Live.
Hostage Omri Miran, 48, reunites with wife Lishay at the initial reception point in southern Israel.Credit: Israeli Defence Forces
Miran and the father of the other family, Tsachi Idan, were both kidnapped. Idan’s body was released during the last hostage exchange after he was killed in captivity. Lishay Miran Lavi, Miran’s wife, said their younger daughter knows “Daddy Omri” only through photos and videos, and doesn’t really understand what a father is.
Maksym Harkin, 37
Maksym Harkin, right, meets with his family after being released from Hamas captivity.Credit: AP
Maksym Harkin was abducted from Nova, which was the first festival he had ever attended, according to his family.
Harkin was born in Ukraine and moved to Israel with his family, where he lived in Tirat Carmel in the north. He has a three-year-old daughter and was the primary provider for his mother and 11-year-old brother. Just before he was taken, his mother said he sent a final text message that said, “I love you”. In July, Hamas released a video of him filmed under duress several months prior.
Rom Braslavski, 21
Rom Broslavski meets his family after his release.Credit: Israeli Defence Forces
Braslavski was working as a security guard at the Nova festival. He attempted to help festival-goers evacuate and was wounded in both hands before being kidnapped, witnesses said.
In August, the Islamic Jihad militant group released a video of a skeletal Braslavski sobbing and pleading for his life, adding that injuries to his foot prevent him from standing.
The videos of Braslavski and Evyatar David digging his own grave horrified Israelis, sparking some of the largest attendance in months at weekly protests. His father, Ofir, said Rom is usually a strong, happy-go-lucky kid, and that video is the first time he’s seen his son cry.
Nimrod Cohen, 21
Nimrod Cohen and his family were flown to a hospital in Tel Aviv in a helicopter piloted by Israeli Air Force chief Major General Tomer Bar, the Times of Israel reported.
A soldier, Cohen was kidnapped on October 7 from a tank near where he was stationed in southern Israel. Cohen is obsessed with Rubik’s cubes, his family said, and a burned Rubik’s cube was found in the tank he was abducted from. He was the only survivor of the four-member tank crew.
Eitan Horn, 38
Eitan Horn was filmed reuniting with his brother Iair, who was also taken hostage and released under an earlier deal.
Eitan, originally from Kfar Saba, was visiting his brother at the Nir Oz kibbutz on October 7. Both were kidnapped, and for most of the war, they were held with three other hostages in a filthy cell underground.
In early February, militants filmed the emotional interaction between the brothers as they were told that Iair would be released and Eitan would stay in Gaza.
Since his release, Iair Horn campaigned for his brother and the other hostages, flying frequently to the United States and meeting with politicians.
Segev Kalfon, 27
Gaza hostage Segev Kalfon arrives at Chaim Sheba Medical Centre at Tel HaShomer after his release.Credit: Getty Images
Segev Kalfon was kidnapped from the Nova music festival, where he was last seen attempting to flee militants along the highway. Before the attack, he worked at his family’s bakery in Dimona, in southern Israel.
The middle child of three, Kalfon, had recently been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, a condition his family has highlighted in urging his release. Kalfon’s family received a sign of life from him after the last ceasefire, when some of the hostages said they were held with him for months.
Kalfon’s family has focused on religious rituals in their fight for his release, including travelling to the grave of prominent rabbis and dedicating a Torah scroll in his honour.
Bar Kupershtein, 23
Bar Kupershtein was greeted by his family, including his wheelchair-user father, Tal, who managed to stand and hug his son on his return from captivity.
A paramedic, Bar Kupershtein was working at the Nova festival when he was abducted. Witnesses said he stayed at the festival to try to provide first aid to people who had been shot and injured.
Kupershtein was the main financial support for his family after his father was severely injured in an accident several years ago, his aunt, Ora Rubinstein, told reporters.
She said that his father had worked with a physical therapist to regain the ability to speak, so he could meet politicians to advocate for his son’s release.
Yosef-Chaim Ohana, 25
Yosef-Chaim Ohana, front, meets with family members after being released from Hamas captivity.Credit: AP
Yosef-Chaim Ohana was kidnapped from the Nova music festival, where he was working as a bartender.
Witnesses saw him attempting to help others escape before he was kidnapped.
He is the oldest of three brothers, one of whom previously died from an illness.
The two hostages determined to be dead
Bipin Joshi, 24
Bipin Joshi, 24.
Credit: Bring Them Home Now
Bipin Joshi arrived in Israel from his native Nepal a month before the attack. He is the only non-Israeli hostage believed to be alive in Gaza. He came to Israel on a student exchange to work and study agriculture at the Alumim kibbutz on the Gaza border. Ten of the 17 Nepali students in the program were killed during the attack. Joshi, who was able to throw a number of live grenades out of the bomb shelter where they were hiding, was injured and kidnapped.
Joshi’s sister, 17-year-old Pushpa Joshi, regularly travels eight hours each way on buses to Kathmandu from her home in western Nepal to lobby officials to secure her brother’s release. In August, his family travelled to Israel to meet with President Isaac Herzog and join families demonstrating in Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square.
Last week, Joshi’s family released footage of him in captivity filmed under duress from around November 2023.
Tamir Nimrodi, 20
Tamir Nimrodi, 20.Credit: Bring Them Home Now
Tamir Nimrodi was kidnapped from Erez, a crossing on the northern border of Gaza that had been the main route for people entering and leaving the territory. He had been serving with the Israeli defence body overseeing humanitarian aid in Gaza. Nimrodi was kidnapped with two other soldiers by militants who walked them to the Gaza gate and forced them to cross. Israel confirmed the deaths of the two soldiers who were kidnapped with Nimrodi.
There has been no sign of life from Nimrodi in the two years since he was seen in footage walking into Gaza in shorts and a T-shirt without his glasses. Herut Nimrodi, his mother, has said she doesn’t know what is worse: to think he has been killed in captivity, or that he’s alive but being held in terrible conditions. “I’m scared to even imagine,” she said.
Prior to Monday’s release, there were 48 hostages held in Gaza, including the body of one soldier from a previous war. Israel had determined that at least 25 of the hostages were killed on October 7, 2023, or died while in captivity.
AP, Reuters
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