Romi, Emily and Doron are back and safe. And a whole nation can breathe again, just for a little while, until the next batch of hostages is set to be released next week.
As the ambulances and security cars approached the plaza at the entrance to the Safra Children’s Hospital at the Tel Hashomer Medical Center, on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, the crowd that had gathered with the awaiting journalists cheered and whooped as the vehicles quickly drove through temporary tarpaulins set up to block access.
Just a few minutes earlier, security officers halted the traffic. As the entourage approached, one of them filmed events with his smartphone while patients from a floor above opened the windows to get a look.
20-year-old Avishag Gadot, who was there with a group of young women doing national service, broke out in song, waving a flag she had earlier been wearing on her back.
“Am Israel Chai,” they sang, “The people of Israel live,” a post-October 7 song by singer Eyal Golan.
Carrying a poster that said, “The people of Israel love you,” Gadot said that she came to see the hostages return home.
“There is so much excitement but also sadness for those who are not back yet and for the soldiers that have died.”
Supporters and friends of Emily Damari cheer upon her arrival outside the Tel Hashomer medical center in Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv, on January 19, 2025. (Photo by Jack GUEZ / AFP)
The three returning hostages — Romi Gonen, 24, Emily Damari, 28, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31 — will stay at the hospital in the coming days. They were reunited in the hospital with family members, embracing and crying and laughing at the same time, and were checked by medical staff. The hospital provided them with fresh new clothes, toiletries and beauty care, and specially prepared meals as well. Each has their own room with its own facilities and they will be held at the hospital as much as necessary.
A group of Damari’s excited friends trooped through the hallway and took the elevator to her quarters.
“It is joy mingled with sadness,” said Rivka Mizrahi, an Orthodox woman from Tel Aviv, who was with her son who is a patient at the hospital. She was standing outside the cordoned area in the hospital reserved for journalists before the hostages arrived. “I am happy they are returning but I am sorry about all the soldiers who were killed. It is important they did not die in vain.’
Similarly, Liat Lahat. whose 16-year-old daughter is a patient at the hospital, said she felt “joy mixed with sorrow.” All the children in the ward are excited about the hostages’ return, she said. “My daughter has written and recorded songs for the hostages,” she said.
Doron Steinbrecher (in black) reunites with her family at the Tel Hashomer Hospital in Ramat Gan, January 19, 2025. (Maayan Toaf/GPO)
Outside, in the plaza, awaiting the ambulance, David, who used a pseudonym for privacy reasons, was also waiting for the hostages in his wheelchair together with his fiancé and his brother. He is an IDF officer wounded in the current war and said he has spent months recovering in the hospital. Many more months of hard recovery await him, he said. He is “moved” by the return of the hostages. “The army played a very significant part in the return of the hostages,” he said. “We did everything to succeed, and I am happy it is happening.”
Prof. Itai Pessach of the Safra Children’s Hospital said that the hostages who are now reunited with their families are “in stable condition, which allows them to focus on what is the most important thing for now, [which is] reuniting with their families.” He said the hospital team would continue to monitor their clinical condition. It could take a few more days until all the examinations are done and treatments given, he said.
Emily Damari walks in to meet her family members at the Tel Hashomer Hospital in Ramat Gan, January 19, 2025. (Maayan Toaf/GPO)
The agreed-upon first phase of the deal will see Hamas release 33 “humanitarian” hostages over 42 days — children, women, female soldiers, the elderly and the sick, while Israel will release up to 1,904 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, including several serving multiple life sentences for deadly terror attacks and murder, amid the ceasefire.
Israel believes most of the 33 are alive but that some are dead. Jerusalem has not yet received word on each hostage’s status.
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