Inside the operation to bring Israel’s hostages home from Gaza

It begins with a phone call with a place.

Once the details are received, a team of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is locked in vehicles marked with the logo of the human organization to take the hostages in Gaza.

Israeli military and medical personnel are also collected at many different places, waiting to bring them home.

The worldwide mortgage release, after the stressful talks of months to end the war starting on 7 October 2023, comes after stressful talks when Hamas fighters killed some 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 251 others Took

According to the Hamas-Interested Health Ministry, more than 47,000 Palestinians were killed in Gaza, and lost their homes in many more Israeli bombing.

Under the terms of ceasefire between Israel and Hamas starting on January 19, a total of 33 Israeli hostages are being released and returned to their families during the first phase, lasted for six weeks.

In turn, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are being freed in Israeli jails.

If anything goes wrong, it puts the remaining hostage at captivity in captivity, and rules the war.

ICRC spokesman Sara Davis says, “This is more than just one drive.”

“These operations may look simple, but in fact they are very complex and involved people need rigorous safety measures to reduce the risks.”

The ICRC, which acts as a neutral intermediary in the handover, gathers a team of experts, some of which have been involved in equal operations in the past – although it is most challenging.

There are some details that groups cannot publicly speak due to concerns that it can compromise on the security of the operation.

Ms. Davis says that the plan is important to ensure that the exchange runs smoothly. They mapped alternative routes to visit various places in Gaza, knowing that at any time the “safest route can change”.

Their greatest concerns are the threats generated by large crowds with unexplained armament, destroyed and damaged infrastructure, and “high feelings”.

“Our teams prepare for more and more scenarios and plan,” she says.

“The most important thing for us is that any person has to return to our homes safely to our homes.”

But it is impossible to plan for everything.

“From previous experience, here and other places around the world, we know that logistics and final details can change at any time, even – and especially during operation,” says Ms. Davis.

Medical staff and so -called weapon contamination specialist, trained in identifying the explosive remains of war, travels with teams.

During operation, ICRC representatives also maintain regular contact with both Israeli officials and Hamas as well as intermediaries.

In the previous release, Hamas has transmitted the names of the hostage issued in advance on his telegram channels, without disclosing that where there will be handover.

The first public indications of places are the presence of armed and masked members of Hamas’s military wing.

A local journalist says about the first release in Gaza City earlier this month, “I came to know from a kiosk man that something was happening at the junction and a parade was being parade in the fighters of Al-Kasam.”

Due to the gathering in the formation of fighters, he started gathering to see the crowd, and the word started spreading The first three hostages released The ceasefire will appear there.

“When people realized that this would be a place where they would hand over to the Israeli hostages, people started chanting (for al-kasam and senior Hamas figures),” they say. “They ‘God is the greatest’ began shouting – who showed how happy he was.”

Journalist was also there Second release – Gaza at a different place in the city – next week, which he describes as being “more organized”.

The fighters installed a small platform area with a desk and chairs, and stood in the formation to separate the hostages from the crowd.

White cars with black out windows were used to bring to the area – four women soldiers – the area.

The young women were filmed by thanking their prisoners and handed gift bags in a video published by Hamas’s military wing.

He was brought on stage and waved on the cheering crowd, before handing over ICRC to care.

Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif al-Qanau said in a later statement that the “visual and description” of the staged handover “” tells the story of creativity, valor, and strengthen a model of pride and dignity “.

Ms. Davis says that the handover has some aspects that are “out of our control”.

“At all times, ICRC employees do their best to protect the dignity of those issued, but … it is important that people recognize the boundaries of what we can do,” she says.

“Our priority remains a safe and successful release and transfer of those people in our care.”

The hostages are transferred to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) on the outskirts of Gaza.

Israel Defense Forces Medical Corps Deputy Chief Colonel Dr. AV Bonov says: “We are prepared through the outskirts of Gaza and other regions to achieve hostages.

“We always prepare because Hamas does not tell us, ‘Okay, we are going to free them in this field or in that area’.

Across the border, reception points have been installed to achieve them.

The site has military and medical personnel, social workers and hostage families.

A former Israeli army drug that was included in the first mortgage return operation during the November 2023 ceasefire, waiting next to the ambulance near the border. Standby was one of several teams when one of the hostages had a medical emergency and says that there were strict instructions about how to interact with those who return.

He recalls: “We were told whether you vacate them, don’t ask them questions, don’t do anything inappropriate, just be calm and then if the hostages ask you something or want something, then of course definitely You are going to answer and give them.

He says that the atmosphere on the base was one of the enthusiasm and nerves. “It was a very important mission,” he says.

Colonel Dr. Banov says that the return begins with an introduction between hostages and medical staff.

Returned hostages are assigned to a physician, a nurse and a social worker who takes them to the hospital “with them all the way”.

Families are advised to allow “a little time” with medical teams before reunioning, so that they can be “breathable and permission to understand that (they) are in a re -safe place.

“We start with vitamins, something small to eat and drink, and then families,” Colonel Dr.. Banov says.

As part of a “grounding” process, they say, the ongoing mortgage agency makes efforts to make their own decisions, such as questions: “Do you bathe before or after meeting your parents Would you like to do? “

Of the first seven hostages to be released, they say that most of the “some types of shrapal injuries” were suffering from malnutrition and metabolic problems.

“They are not physically good, mentally this is a very complex issue,” he says.

In the coming weeks, he notes, bodies of dead hostages will also come, which plans to transfer him to a forensic laboratory before the funeral in Israel.

After receiving the initial treatment at the reception point, the living hostages are transferred to a “particularly adapted” helicopter in a hospital elsewhere in the country.

Colonel Dr. Banov says: “We tell them … We will return a helicopter home. And then, if you are ready, we will start talking about what you have done.”

It is there that the proper recovery process begins.