Israel’s mixed mood regarding the ceasefire

When three Israeli hostages were released from Gaza on Sunday, Israeli kindergarten teacher Meital Ofer felt two competing emotions.

First and foremost, Ms. Ofer felt joy – three of her compatriots, all women, had been released after more than 470 days in captivity.

However, somewhere in the back of her mind there was also a feeling of hurt. In order to free the women, as well as another thirty hostages expected to be released in the next six weeks, Israel has promised to release nearly 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, some of whom are serving long prison sentences for murdering Israelis.

One of these prisoners killed Ms. Ofer’s father in an ax attack 11 years ago.

“I am very happy that they are back,” Ms. Ofer, 48, said of the hostages. But she added: “There are painful feelings knowing that the person who killed my father will be free.”

For Israelis and Palestinians alike, reaching a ceasefire sparked joy and celebration, but it also came at a price for both peoples.

The arrangement leaves Israel in control of strategic parts of Gaza, preventing many Palestinians from returning to their often destroyed homes, at least for now. It also forced Israel to make painful concessions — including the release of convicted terrorists and the possibility that Hamas, the instigator of the raid that started the war, can now remain in power.

Despite a 15-month counteroffensive that devastated Gaza and killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, many Israelis now fear the country has failed to achieve its wartime goals.

After using Gaza as a launching pad to launch the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust, Hamas still controls most of the territory, allowing its surviving members to parade gleefully in several Gaza cities after the truce began. For Israelis still seeking to completely defeat the group, these scenes were shocking.

Others may accept Hamas’ survival if this leads to the release of all hostages still held by the movement in Gaza. But the settlement reached by Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, only guarantees the release of a third of them. Even these will be released at a heavy price – in exchange for prisoners convicted of some of the most notorious terrorist attacks in Israel’s history, as well as dozens of women and minors held without charge.

“There is an extreme version of the paradox – we feel two contradictory emotions, strongly and simultaneously, a combination of intense joy and intense fear,” said Micah Goodman, an Israeli philosopher.

Mr. Goodman added that this fear takes two forms, depending on a person’s political outlook. Many on the Israeli left fear that the truce will collapse before every hostage is released. Many right-wing Israelis worry that the truce could become permanent, which would prevent Hamas from being completely defeated.

“I don’t know an Israeli who hasn’t been deeply affected by images of our sisters returning home,” said Mr. Goodman, the author of several books on Israeli identity. He added: “But the Israeli left fears that we will miss the opportunity to return the rest of the hostages to the homeland.” The Israeli right fears that if the war ends with Hamas still standing, we may have lost the war.”

Yitzhak Horn’s predicament embodied the conflict felt by many on the Israeli left. Mr Horn’s two sons, Eitan and Yair, were kidnapped during a Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 – but only Yair is listed for release during the first six weeks of the ceasefire. Eitan may never be released if the Israeli government, under pressure from its right-wing base, renews its efforts to defeat Hamas once those six weeks have passed. For now, Mr. Horn is unsure whether to celebrate or mourn.

“They presented me with the modern-day dilemma of Solomon,” Yitzhak Horn said in a radio interview on Monday, referring to the biblical story of a mother forced to choose between killing her child and abandoning him.

He said: “We are all happy with what happened yesterday, and we hope that things will continue like this.” “On the other hand, I am angry, disappointed and also afraid because I do not know what will happen – when Etan will return.”

This frustration within the hostage movement is exacerbated by the feeling that the government could have done more to undermine Hamas while the war was still raging. The government, arguing that Hamas can only be replaced after the war ends, has repeatedly refused to seek a transfer of power in Gaza that would allow more moderate Palestinian actors to run the area in place of Hamas.

Over the past 15 months, Israeli forces have at one point or another taken control of most towns in Gaza, forcing Hamas to flee to other areas. But in each case, the army left without attempting the difficult task of handing power over to Hamas’s rivals.

“Not only did Hamas survive militarily, but its regime also remained intact,” Avi Issacharoff, an Israeli commentator, wrote in a column Monday in the centrist Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

“Much of this is entirely due to the Israeli government,” Mr. Issakharov continued. “For months, Netanyahu and his ministers have steadfastly refused to have any in-depth discussion about creating a governmental alternative to Hamas.”

Despite differences over war strategy, Israelis of all backgrounds shared ambivalence over the decision to exchange Israeli hostages for Palestinian detainees.

Yair Cherki, an Israeli journalist, described the complexity of cheering for the release of the hostages — one of whom, Rumi Gonen, is a family friend — while discovering that his brother’s killer will be released as part of the same deal.

“It has been less than 10 years since the murder, less than a decade and he will come out? It is unbearable,” Mr Sharqi said in a roundtable discussion broadcast on television.

But he concluded, “Rumi is alive and that is the basic and simple thing. My view has not changed: Rumi should be here.”

Mira Novick and Gabe Sobelman contributed reporting.