Gaza special: Three freed hostages back in Israel

Summary

Global News Podcast: Gaza Special – Three Freed Hostages Back in Israel

Release Date: January 19, 2025
Host: Nick Miles, BBC World Service

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1. Introduction

In this special edition of the BBC World Service's Global News Podcast, host Nick Miles delves into the significant developments surrounding the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. The episode focuses on the release of three Israeli hostages after 15 months in captivity, the reciprocal release of Palestinian prisoners, and the broader implications for both communities.

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2. Release of Israeli Hostages

As part of the newly brokered ceasefire, Hamas released three Israeli women who had been held hostage for over a year. These hostages—Emily Damari, Romi Gonen, and Doran Steinbrecker—were transferred to Israeli soil and are en route to Tel Aviv for medical evaluations.

Emily Damari's Handover:

Correspondent Anna Foster provides a vivid account of the handover scene in Tel Aviv:

"You might have heard actually the sound of a cheer going up here in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv. (...) What you're seeing now is what looks very much like just a very chaotic handover of those three Israeli hostages."
— Emily Damari, [02:48]

Emily Damari, a 28-year-old British-Israeli national from Kibbutz Kafar Aza, was abducted from a music festival on October 7, 2023. Romi Gonen, 23, and Doran Steinbrecker, a veterinary nurse from the same region, faced similar fates during the initial attacks.

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3. Process of Transfer to Hospital

Jonah Fisher's Report from Tel Aviv:

Correspondent Jonah Fisher outlines the logistical steps following the handover:

"They will be taken by the Red Cross to the IDF inside Gaza, (...) and then they will be taken across the border into Israel (...) They will be reunited, possibly with their family members."
— Jonah Fisher, [05:17]

Fisher emphasizes the privacy measures in place to protect the hostages and their families during this sensitive transition to Sheba Hospital in Tel Aviv.

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4. Reactions from Hostage Families

Adam Marnitz on Emotional Turmoil:

Adam Marnitz, whose cousin Tahid Adan was taken hostage, shares the emotional strain experienced by families still waiting for their loved ones:

"All the hostage families, including my own, are completely on tenterhooks. (...) Our fates are really intertwined with one another as hostage families."
— Adam Marnitz, [07:29]

He reflects on the collective anxiety and shared hope among the families, highlighting the profound human impact of the ongoing conflict.

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5. Palestinian Prisoner Releases

John Donnison's Coverage from Ramallah:

As part of the ceasefire agreement, Israel is set to release 95 Palestinian prisoners. John Donnison reports from Ramallah:

"In the next few hours, possibly as late as this evening, we are going to see 95 Palestinian prisoners freed, 70 women, 10 teenagers and 15 men, all jailed for relatively low level offences."
— John Donnison, [09:13]

The release includes individuals detained for minor offenses, marking a critical component of the détente between the two factions.

Iman Barghouti on Personal Impact:

One of the released prisoners, Nael Barghouti, sees his long-term captivity end, albeit with uncertainties:

"We are going to see him again, even if it's after 10 years and a half. (...) I was preparing myself, preparing the house to welcome Nael in his house. (...) I'm really worried."
— Iman Barghouti, [10:39]

Iman expresses apprehension about the possibility of Nael being deported outside Palestine, a concern rooted in past experiences of family separations.

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6. Impact on Gaza's Population

Dr. Mohammed Abu Mughaisib's Insights:

Dr. Mohammed Abu Mughaisib from Medicine Sans Frontier paints a grim picture of Gaza's devastation post-conflict:

"If you are in Gaza, you will see the massive destruction. (...) All the health structure was totally destroyed, all the hospitals partially destroyed or totally destroyed, clinics everywhere. (...) there is a huge need to rebuild and to develop now in the coming days, the health structure."
— Dr. Mohammed Abu Mughaisib, [12:08]

He underscores the immediate challenges faced by Gazans, including destroyed infrastructure, healthcare crises, and the looming threat of infectious diseases.

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7. International Response

President Biden on the Ceasefire and Future Steps:

President Biden spoke on the international stage, welcoming the ceasefire and outlining the phased approach to prisoner exchanges:

"Four more women will be released in seven days, three additional hostages every seven days thereafter, including at least two American citizens. (...) Today alone, we anticipate several hundred trucks will enter the Gaza Strip."
— President Biden, [13:39]

His statements highlight the U.S. commitment to the peace process and the structured timeline for ongoing negotiations.

Lise Doucet's Analysis:

Chief International Correspondent Lise Doucet reflects on the broader significance of the ceasefire:

"This is such one of those exquisite humans moments of rare happiness, which will give rise to cautious hope that this can be the beginning of something where all of the hostages will go home... so that their family knows at least what happened. (...) This moment is one, a very, very human moment."
— Lise Doucet, [14:42]

Doucet emphasizes the emotional weight of the ceasefire and its potential to foster a foundation for lasting peace, while also acknowledging the inherent risks involved.

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8. Conclusion

The episode encapsulates a pivotal moment in the Israel-Hamas conflict, marked by the release of hostages and prisoners and the fragile implementation of a ceasefire. While the immediate relief and hope are palpable among both Israeli and Palestinian communities, the long-term stability remains uncertain. The podcast underscores the profound human emotions intertwined with geopolitical maneuvers, offering listeners a comprehensive understanding of the situation's complexity.

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For further commentary or to share your thoughts on this episode, visit globalpodcastbc.co.uk or connect with the BBC Global News Podcast on social platforms.

Transcript

[Nick Miles]

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[Nick Miles]

This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Nick Miles with a special edition of the podcast. As the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas comes into effect, we will hear from our correspondents in Tel Aviv where as we record this podcast, three Israeli women just released by Hamas after 15 months in captivity are due to be taken to hospital for medical checks. Family members of those still held tell us about their reaction.

[Adam Marnitz]

All the hostage families, including my own, are completely on tenterhooks. I think there are emotions that we're feeling that I don't think have an English word for.

[Nick Miles]

We're in Ramallah in the west bank where we get reaction to the imminent release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and we hear what the ceasefire means for the people of Gaz. As long awaited aid trucks into the.

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Strip.

[Nick Miles]

There have been many false starts in the efforts to bring an end to the conflict in Gaza. But now the latest diplomatic efforts have come to fruition. After 15 months in captivity, three Israeli hostages have been released by Hamas in Gaza. The three women crossed the border into Israel and as we record this podcast, they're due to be taken by helicopter to a hospital in Tel Aviv. Their release is part of a deal between Hamas and the Israeli government which includes a six week ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Our correspondent in Tel Aviv, Anna Foster, was in a square with hundreds of Israelis as they watched the handover of the hostages in Gaza to the International Red Cross.

[Emily Damari]

You might have heard actually the sound of a cheer going up here in hostage Square in Tel Aviv. What they are watching is Israeli TV but rebroadcasting pictures from Gaza. It looks like those Red Cross vehicles are starting to move. Huge crowds that are pressing in around them and members of Hamas with their faces covered holding weapons that look like they're on the back of that vehicle. But what people here have been watching for and responding to, they're looking for any, any glimpse of those women basically being handed over. Can hear it again, listen where people are applauding now. Reuters have say they've been told by a representative from the International Committee of the Red Cross that the handover has begun. Looks like they're trying to close the doors. I mean this is the real sort of key moment and in fact it's worth saying this is a moment that people feared that they, they might not see, that might not happen. When that cease fire was delayed, it was a supposed to happen at 8:30 this morning local time and it didn't actually come into force until 11:15 at the end. People were worried that this timetable would slip. But what you're seeing now is what looks very much like just a very chaotic handover of those three Israeli hostages. Emily Damari, who's that? 28 year old British Israeli national who was taken from Kibbutz Kafar Aza. The crowd cheering around me again. Also Romi Gonen who was taken at the Nova Music festival. She was 23 years old when she was abducted. She was believed to have been shot in the hand as well when she was taken by Hamas from the Nova Music Festival on the phone to her mum at the moment when she was abducted. And also Doran Steinbrecker who was a veterinary nurse. She also lived in Kaffar Aza. She was taken from her apartment on the 7th of October and people here in the square in Tel Aviv were really responding to those pictures. We can speak to Jonah Fisher again, our correspondent who is outside Sheba Hospital. When the hostages get to where you are, it is sort of the end of that handover process really when they go to hospital and I imagine you and many of the world's media are they waiting for that part of the handover as well?

[Jonah Fisher]

Yeah. What we're expecting to happen next, Annabek, as the footage from Gaza seems to show the three hostages being transferred over to the Red Cross is that they will be taken by the Red Cross to the IDF inside Gaza, the Israeli forces there. Then they will be taken across the border into Israel and it was probably going to be at a settlement called Raim where they will be reunited, possibly with their family members. From what we know about the way that these three women were captured on October 7, 2023, it's likely that, well, at least two of them have injuries dating back to then. They may also have other problems associated with being kept in captivity in Gaza for 15 months. They may, of course, have been badly treated, kept in tunnels. So once they are at Raim, we are expecting them to be put on a helicopter and flown here to where I am now, which is a hospital on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. They'll land a short distance over there, and then they will be brought probably along the road here. This is where they're going to go through. This is not going to be a public event. The priority here is the privacy, understandably, of the hostages and their families. As part of this process, efforts are being made to make sure that this is essentially a private moment. They'll be transferred into the hospital here, and one would imagine that they'll get medical treatment, and obviously that will be the start of their lives in freedom. Having been released, now that we've seen that the handover has happened in Gaza into Red Cross hands, one could imagine that in the next few hours, we might see those. Those three female hostages, Doran Steinbecker, Emily Damari and Rami Gonnin, brought here and obviously started receiving some medical treatment.

[Nick Miles]

Jonah Fisher in Tel Aviv. Well, the impact of today's releases is not just on those women freed and their families, but on those with loved ones still in captivity. Adam Marnitz, cousin Tahid Adan was taken hostage on 7 October after his oldest daughter, Mayan was shot and killed through a room door. Here's Tsahida reacting to the news of the safe arrival of the three female hostages.

[Adam Marnitz]

All the hostage families, including my own, are completely on tenterhooks. They're feeling the full spectrum of human emotion. I think there are emotions that we're feeling that I don't think have an English word for huge amount. Our fates are really intertwined with one another as hostage families. And so to see those scenes of Doron and Emily and Romy being, you know, walking on their own two legs, their own two feet out of the car, knowing that they're at least alive and well enough to do that and to, you know, to be back on Israeli soil, to be in Israeli care and to be reunited with their. With their loved ones, their family, their mothers especially. I was with Mandy in 10 Downing Street a few months ago. You know, an incredible human being. You know, just one of the most awful times for all parents to see, you know, to have to not know what's happening with their children. And so you can imagine what the, what they must be going through right now. And of course, we as families are feeling that joy too, by proxy. We are completely attached. And for all the hostage families, I think it's fair to say we feel as one big family. So when any of us are returned, we share in their joy and we celebrate.

[Nick Miles]

Adam Marnitz Meanwhile, Palestinian families are preparing for the return of dozens of prisoners who are being held in Israeli jails. It's another key plank of the deal negotiated between Israel and Hamas. Our correspondent John Donnison is in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

[Unknown Speaker]

You can see Offa prison right behind me there and the road snaking out past the watchtowers and the barbed wire. And in the next few hours, possibly as late as this evening, we are going to see 95 Palestinian prisoners freed, 70 women, 10 teenagers and 15 men, all jailed for relatively low level offences. They'll then drive the short distance up the valley there to Petunia and the town square there will be where they're allowed to meet their loved ones. But, you know, the difficulties we've had today give you a sense of how difficult it's going to be over the next six weeks because we're expecting 33 Israeli hostages to be released in total in Exchange for some 1900 Palestinian prisoners, some of them jailed for much more serious offenses. But yes, here in the west bank too, a moment of some hope.

[Nick Miles]

John Donison in Ramallah. Well, one of the Palestinian prisoners being released is 68 year old Nial Barghouti. He's been held the longest by Israel for more than a decade. He was arrested for the second time on the charge of acting against Israel in 2014. While Nael is set to be released in the first phase of the ceasefire, he's also one of the people who won't be allowed to return to the West Bank. Here's his wife Imani, happy to feel.

[Iman Barghouti]

Like we are going to see him again, even if it's after 10 years and a half. You know, it's a long, long time. Like you want to see somebody new for some time. Even as a person, as a human thing, it's not easy. I was preparing myself, preparing the house to welcome Nael in his house. But after we started knowing that they are going to, to let him go out From Palestine with 48 Palestinians from Shalid Dir, it was a shock for me and for other wives because we did not expect this. I am afraid now if they, you know, deport Nel outside of Palestine, that it will be difficult for me to go to be with him. Because I'm not sure that the Israeli side will let me go. And this has happened before. They prevent families to see each other. They deport many of the Palestinians. Until now, many families, they didn't see their sons, their husband. So that's why I'm really worried.

[Nick Miles]

Iman Barghouti well, alongside the prisoner hostage releases, a ceasefire has also come into effect. Many Palestinians who've been displaced from their homes in Gaza are now attempting to return. Dr. Mohammed Abu Mugasib from the humanitarian chamber charity Medicine Sans Frontier in Gaza has been describing what's in store for Those Palestinians after 15 months of Israeli bombardment.

[Dr. Mohammed Abu Mughaisib]

If you are in Gaza, you will see the massive destruction. You see a population of 1.90000 living in the south evacuated. The north area, you have hospitals which are partially destructed. Everything in terms of life here is totally destroyed. Situation was catastrophic. The only thing, the good thing that there will not be any kind of military actions. People will at least have no fear. But I mean the pain is coming now. I mean people will try to go back to their demolished homes and the shock will be there when they see how things are, especially in Gaza City and the north. All the health structure was totally destroyed, all the hospitals partially destroyed or totally destroyed, clinics everywhere. So I mean we saw some pathological diseases that has been not before 7th of October, the malnutrition, the hepatitis A, I mean a lot of infectious disease, I mean patients of cancer. Before 7th of October, they were depending going to the Israeli hospitals to be treated. Since 400 days they are here. A lot of them have died because there is no chemotherapy, there is no treatment. So there is a huge need to rebuild and to develop now in the coming days, the health structure.

[Nick Miles]

Dr. Mohammed Abu Mughaisib from the humanitarian charity Medicine Sans Frontier in Gaza on his last day in office. President Biden in the United States has welcomed the ceasefire deal coming into force and the start of that hostage release process. In return for the freeing of Palestinian.

[President Biden]

Prisoners, four more women will be released in seven days, three additional hostages every seven days thereafter, including at least two American citizens. In this first phase, by the 16th day of the deal, talks will begin. In the second phase, this phase includes the release of Israeli soldiers and a permanent end of the war without Hamas in power or able to threaten Israel. Today alone, we anticipate several hundred trucks will Enter the Gaza Strip, probably as I'm speaking. And after so much pain, destruction, loss of life, today the guns in Gaza have gone silent.

[Nick Miles]

President Biden. Well, the relief that this ceasefire has brought to people in Israel and Gaza is palpable. Many have taken to the streets to celebrate as hostages of freedom from Hamas, while Palestinians eagerly await the release of 90 prisoners from Israeli jails. But it's only day one of a phased process with many potential pitfalls. Our chief international correspondent Lise Doucet explained the importance of this moment in Israel.

[Lise Doucet]

They say the country believes that they changed forever after October 7th. Everywhere you go, and today in that square, the banners of the hostages, they line all the streets and squares in Tel Aviv, in many other cities, they line the hallways in Israel's the international airport in Ben Gurion just outside Tel Aviv. They feel that these are their sisters and brothers and family members, that there's been this solidarity and solidarity among the families, too. And people will be watching around the world because this is such as one of those exquisite humans moments of rare happiness, which will give rise to cautious hope that this can be the beginning of something where all of the hostages will go home, those who are alive and the remains of those who did not survive, so that their family knows at least what happened. And then the hundreds of Palestinian prisoners who will go home. Many of them have been languishing in prison under administrative detention, not yet being charged, never knowing when they would be free. This is a time of intense emotion on both sides in this deeply, deeply political deal, in a war the likes of which the region has never seen. And so many hope that there will be an end to that war, but it's fraught with risk. But this moment is one, a very, very human moment.

[Nick Miles]

Lise Doucet. And that's all from this special edition of the Global News Podcast for now. There will be a new edition of of the program later. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcastbc.co.uk you can also find us on x@globalnewspod. This edition was mixed by Chris Murphy. The producers were Sophie Smith and Emma Joseph. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Nick Miles. And until next time, goodbye.

[Unknown Speaker]

There's a divide in American politics between those who think democracy is in peril and those who think it's already been subverted, hollowed out from the inside. As President Trump returns to the White House, we go through the looking glass into a world where nothing is as it seems, the coming storm from BBC Radio 4. Listen, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.