Pictures of hope

More hostages are reunited with their families as truce is extended two days

- CHRIS HUGIES

THE joy on the faces of children as they are reunited with their families after weeks held hostage in Gaza gives cause for hope amid the ongoing nightmare of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

As the two sides agreed a two-day extension to the ceasefire, four-year-old Abigail Edan smiled and giggled as she was fussed over by her aunt Liron and uncle Zuli, while her grandparents Shlomit and Eitan looked on.

But Abigail and her elder siblings, Michael and Amalia, face a future without their parents Roy, 43, and Smadar, 40, who were murdered by Hamas in the October 7 attacks.  

Last night the Israeli military said 11 more hostages, including several children and three-year-old twins, had been handed over in Gaza and were on their way to Israeli territory, marking the start of the fourth swap.

RELEASE

On Sunday, Abigail was among the third group of hostages to be released. She was freed and taken to the Schneider Children's Medical Centre in Petah Tikva, Israel. 

In the same medical centre, Avihai Brodetz was hugging his wife Hagar and children Ofri, who turned 10 while in Gaza, Yuval, eight, and Oria, four, after their release. They were kidnapped as Avihai tried to defend the Kfar Aza kibbutz on October 7.

On Sunday, Hamas freed 17 hostages, including 14 Israelis. Israel released 39 Palestinian prisoners in return.

Israeli sources said the freed Palestinians were "women and minors".

One was 17-year-old Omar Atshan, who was hugged by his mother after he was freed from an Israeli prison in the West Bank town of Ramallah. 

After Israel and Hamas settled on a two-day extension and more hostage-prisoner releases last night, more families on both sides were being reunited with loved ones.