The father of Arbel Yehoud, released from captivity in Gaza on Thursday, pleaded with the Israeli government to complete the hostage-ceasefire deal and get all the hostages home, and also hailed US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff for knowing “how to speak Trumpish in the Middle East” and helping to seal the deal.
Speaking Friday at Sheba Medical Center, where his daughter is being cared for, Yehiel said: “Considering the hell she’s been through, she came back in decent health.” Yehoud, 29, was freed in Khan Younis along with Gadi Mozes, 80, in a chaotic handover during which the two Israeli civilians were forced to walk with Hamas gunmen through a seething crowd in a process that lasted for over an hour.
“She survived heroically to the last moment,” Yehiel Yehoud said.
Yehoud and Mozes, who were both abducted from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, were freed along with five Thai nationals, 482 days after they were kidnapped during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacre. IDF surveillance soldier Agam Berger was also released Thursday, at a separate handover in northern Gaza. Another three Israeli hostages are slated for release Saturday, under the ongoing deal with the terror group.
Yehiel Yehoud thanked the German government for its efforts on her behalf — Arbel is a German citizen — as well as Trump and Witkoff “who knew how to speak Trumpish in the Middle East and use the full weight [of US influence] toward freeing the hostages.” The US president’s Middle East envoy flew to Qatar to help finalize the current deal and visited Gaza and Israel this week, including watching Thursday’s releases and meeting with freed hostages in Hostages Square.
Yehiel Yehoud also thanked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “for realizing — even if very late and at the cost of the lives of hostages and soldiers — that there is no choice but to go through with the deal, free the hostages, and end the war, because this is the true victory needed to rehabilitate the nation and its people.”
Yehiel Yehoud (Eyal Radoshitzky / Hostages Families Forum)
Yehoud stressed that “the struggle is not over. Alongside Arbel, who is in good health and displaying immense mental strength, we will continue to fight until everyone returns.”
He said the family would also “now turn to grieve together for Dolev, our firstborn and beloved son.” Dolev Yehoud was murdered by Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7.
Meanwhile, Mozes and his family were filmed reciting kiddush on Friday night, enjoying their first Shabbat dinner after over 15 months of captivity.
סוף סוף עם סבא גדי: משפחת מוזס בארוחת שישי בהרכב מלא@ShaIsrael2 pic.twitter.com/BNAqUEpRxV
— גלצ (@GLZRadio) January 31, 2025
Also Friday, Mandy Damari, mother of released hostage Emily, revealed that her daughter was held by Hamas in UNRWA facilities, and that her captors refused to give Emily access to medical treatment.
Emily, 28, who was released 10 days ago, lost two fingers in her left hand after being shot by Hamas terrorists during her abduction from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7. Her mother said it was “a miracle that she survived.”
In a post thanking British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for calling them earlier in the day, Mandy, who like her daughter has British citizenship, wrote: “Hamas held Emily in UNRWA facilities and denied her access to medical treatment after shooting her twice. It’s a miracle that she survived, and we need to get aid to remaining hostages now.”
During the call, in which Starmer invited Emily to visit 10 Downing Street when she has recovered, the Damaris told him Emily was provided only with an out-of-date bottle of iodine for the wounds to her hand and an unhealed gunshot wound in her leg. They urged Starmer to pressure Hamas and UNRWA to give the International Committee of the Red Cross access to the remaining hostages.
Emily (right) and Mandy Damari on the phone to UK PM Keir Starmer, January 31, 2025. (Courtesy)
Meanwhile, Meirav Berger, mother of Agam, 28, offered a heartfelt, spiritual message of thanks for the return of her daughter, in a public statement at Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva.
“Thank you to the creator of the world, to the nation of Israel and the Jewish world, to those who stood with us and wrapped us in endless love and overturned every rock to bring our Agam home to us,” Meirav said.
Her husband, Agam’s father Shlomi, thanked Trump, in English, “for your care and for making us all do the right thing… We will never forget your help, your generosity and your leadership.”
Meirav also thanked the IDF soldiers, the country’s decision-makers, the family’s Holon community, and their friends and family. “And Agam, our superhero, what luck that you are mine,” she added. “With God’s help, take all that is offered to you. No one will ever be able to say no to you.”
אימה של אגם ברגר: “את גיבורת העל שלנו, תודה לעם ישראל” @YoavBorowitz pic.twitter.com/lk68XVjqZS
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) January 31, 2025
Agam’s IDF comrade Liri Albag, who was freed from Hamas captivity last week, pleaded in an Instagram post for the release of the remaining abductees.
“I was finally able to reunite with my family… but our struggle is not over and I will not stop fighting until everyone is home,” Albag wrote Friday.
“I want us to continue to stay united because together nothing can break us. Our unity and hope scare our enemies, amazes our loved ones and comforts those among us. I hope everyone will see the light,” she wrote.
Albag was released on Saturday along with three other surveillance soldiers after 477 days in captivity.
לירי אלבג בפוסט ראשון מאז שחזרה מהשבי:
לצד תמונתה מסמנת לב, כתבה: ״הלוואי שכולם יזכו לראות את האור״הפוסט המלא:
“עם ישראל, אני רוצה שוב להודות לכם על כל התמיכה, האהבה והעזרה שלכם. ביחד אנחנו כוח. אני רוצה להודות לחיילי צה״ל ואנשי כוחות הביטחון, שחירפו את נפשם ונלחמו עבורנו… pic.twitter.com/Y8fuZOgwZw
— ארנולד נטייב (@ArnoldNataev) January 31, 2025
Shai Albag, Liri’s sister, also urged the release of all the hostages in an Instagram post on Friday.
“I find myself staring at you, entering your room before you’ve woken up, hugging you non-stop, as if I’m trying to make sure it’s real,” she wrote, but added that her “heart is not complete” until the remainder of the captives return home.
“All of the hostages’ families deserve to feel what we felt. They deserve for the nightmare to end, they deserve for their loved ones to come back home,” she said.
During the first phase of the accord, Hamas is set to free 33 hostages in exchange for Israel’s releasing up to 1,904 Palestinian security prisoners and detainees. Ten Israeli hostages have been released from captivity so far — five soldiers and five civilians — in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, including dozens serving life sentences.
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