The race to freedom: Heartbreaking moment nine-year-old Ohad Munder runs into his father's arms after 49 days of hostage hell in Gaza
By Oliver Price
Daily Mail
Nov 25, 2023
Freed Ohad Munder, is seen walking through the children's hospital where he, three other children and four mothers were sent for medical care, when an official points out his father several feet away
Ohad Monder reacts to seeing his dad.A heartbreaking video has captured the moment of a nine-year-old Israeli boy ran into his father arms after he was reunited with his family after 49 days in hell being held captive by Hamas terrorists in Gaza.
More hostages were due to be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners after 24 captives including 13 Israeli women and children were released yesterday - but Hamas said on Saturday that the handover has been delayed, claiming that Israel had not complied with the deal's terms and not delivered enough aid into northern Gaza.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said 196 trucks of aid entered on Friday, and Israel said four fuel trucks and four tanks of gas entered Saturday.
In the video, freed Ohad Munder, is seen walking through the children's hospital where he, three other children and four mothers were sent for medical care, when an official points out his father several feet away.
The young boy then waves to his father, before sprinting down the corridor to into his open arms, before he is picked up and hugged, marking the end of his horrific ordeal being held hostage.
Nine-year-old Ohad Monder meets his father, his brother and family members at the Schneider Children's Medical Center, in Israel today
Ohad and his brother embrace following the youngster's release from Gaza on Friday
Ohad plays with his Rubik's cube after he returns to Israel after his 49 day ordeal in Gaza
A Hamas terrorist has his arm around Ohad as he and his mother (pictured directly behind him) are released to the Red Cross
Ohad and his mother, Keren Munder, seen travelling earlier on a military helicopter to hospital
Doctors have conducted preliminary examinations on the patients and are all in a good physical condition, a statement said.
Adriana Adar, the granddaughter of one of the hostagtages Yafa Adar, 85, celebrated her return to Israel. She became recognisable after she was transported by Hamas terrorists into Gaza on board a golf cart.
Her granddaughter wrote on Facebook: 'She is here! Beautiful grandma is here! Healthy, beautiful, Pantra! Thank you with Israel! Thank you to everyone who was, accompanied, supported. First drop in the sea, waiting for you Tamir Adar, waiting for everyone! All of them! Right now, right now!!'
Posting a photo of Yafa sat with family, she wrote: 'This is the picture we waited 49 days for. Now we will bring Tamir and all the kidnapped people!
'Right now!'
Video reveals the moment the Asher family were reunited as four-year-old Raz, two-year-old Aviv and their mother Doron, 34, saw their father and husband for the first time in 49 days.
Father Yoni, while holding his older daughter Raz says: 'My dearest girl, my beautiful girl. did you miss me? Were you thinking about daddy?
'Avivi, were you thinking about daddy? Were you thinking good thoughts about me? Yes? What did mommy tell you about me?'
Raz tells her father: 'I dreamed we're going home.'
Her overwhelmed father replied: 'Did you dream that you were going home? Now the dream came true, we're home, that's it, we're soon going to our home. Soon we will go back to our home.
'We just came here for the doctors to check us and that's it, we're going home. They've placed so many dolls around here for you, lots of toys, lamps, all sorts of things, so many things they've placed here for you. All these people have brought you presents, everything's here. Are you happy?'
'I dreamed we're going home': Raz Asher (left), four, her two-year-old sister Aviv (right) and their mother Doron, 34, reunite with their father and husband Yoni after 49 days being held captive by Hamas
Father Yoni embraces his two-year-old daughter Raz as she came home after being freed by Hamas yesterday
Two female IDF soldiers are seen embracing the youngsters following their release to Israel
A soldier sits with Raz Asher, four, as she eats a meal following her release back into Israel
Doron Asher is seen earlier stepping off a military helicopter with Aviv, two and Raz, four
Yafa Adar, 85, sitting with her family after she was returned home to Israel yesterday
'This is the picture we waited 49 days for': Yafa embraces a family member in hospital
Six-year-old Emelia Aloni and her mother Daniele react as they meet their family members after they returned to Israel last night the Schneider Children's Medical Center
Emelia in an embrace as she and her mother Daniele reunite with family after they returned to Israel
Photos also show six-year-old hostage and her Emelia Aloni and her mother Daniele embracing family members at the hospital last night.
The little girl was seen in the arms of a relative who was overjoyed to see her return home.
And as they walked into view her mother was seen holding a teddy bear with a big but exhausted-looking smile on her face.
An Israeli soldier hugs released hostage Margalit Mozes as she arrived from Gaza on Friday
Margalit was all smiles as she walked with an Israeli soldier just moments after she was freed
According to i24 News, Director-General of Schneider Children's Medical Center, Dr. Efrat Bron-Harlev : 'Their physical condition is good and they are currently undergoing medical and emotional assessment by the medical and psychosocial teams at Schneider Children's in a specially designated and private area.
'There are not enough words to express the emotion that we are feeling at this time together with the families and the entire nation of Israel. We will do our utmost to care for the physical and emotional health of the returned hostages. From our perspective, this is a national mission, and we are proud to have the privilege to treat them.'
This will come as a second day of hope for anguished Israeli families during the four-day ceasefire exchange deal, after seven weeks of war killed thousands of people, as another 14 hostages are set to be released.
This will be the second swap since a four-day ceasefire came into effect on Friday and largely silenced the guns on both sides.
Israeli security officials were earlier reviewing the list, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement, after his government's vow to work for the release of all hostages taken by Hamas in an attack on Israel on October 7.
A hostage is released by Hamas as she is handed over to Red Cross officials in Gaza yesterday
On Friday, the first day of the truce, Hamas released 24 hostages, according to key mediator Qatar and an official Israeli list
Released Palestinian prisoners, arrive to Beitunia, west of Ramallah, West Bank with Red Cross vehicles under the agreement on the four-day humanitarian pause between Israel and Hamas
A member of Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades helps a hostage out of a car before handing her over to officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza
On Friday, the first day of the truce, Hamas released 24 hostages, according to key mediator Qatar and an official Israeli list. They comprised 13 Israelis - all of whom were women and children, including some dual citizens - and 10 Thais and one Filipino.
A two-minute video released by Hamas showed masked militants with rifles, wearing military fatigues and the green headband of its armed wing, as they handed the hostages over to Red Cross officials
Israel in turn freed 39 women and children from its prisons.
'It's only a start, but so far it's gone well,' US President Joe Biden told reporters in Massachusetts, where he was spending the Thanksgiving holiday.
'I think the chances are real' for extending the truce, he said.
Biden also urged a broader effort to emerge from the crisis with a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel.
About 215 hostages remain in Gaza, Israeli army spokesman Doron Spielman said.
'We're unaware, many of these cases, if they are dead or alive. We're trying to collect intelligence,' he said.
Hamas fighters snatched the captives when they broke through Gaza's militarised border with Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people, according to Israeli figures.
In response to the deadliest attack in its history, Israel launched an air, artillery and naval offensive to destroy Hamas, killing about 15,000 people, according to the Hamas government in Gaza.
Hamas is expected to free 50 hostages during the ceasefire in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners, part of an agreement struck after talks involving Israel, Palestinian militant groups, Qatar, Egypt and the United States.
In Tel Aviv, the smiling faces of freed hostages were projected onto the walls of the art museum, with the words: 'I'm home'.
Near a hospital in the Tel Aviv suburb of Petah Tikva, people applauded and held up Israeli flags as helicopters flew in freed captives.
'I am determined to help my family recover from the terrible trauma and loss we went through,' said Yoni Asher, whose wife Doron and two daughters, aged two and four, were freed after 49 days held hostage in Gaza.
'It's allowed to feel joy and it's allowed to shed a tear,' Asher said in a video released by the Hostage Families Forum.
Among the freed hostages, four children and four women were admitted to Schneider Children's Medical Centre.
Their physical condition is 'good' and they will undergo a medical and psychological assessment, said the hospital's chief executive, Efrat Bron-Harlev.
Thailand's government said it estimated another 20 citizens were still being held by Hamas. 'We sincerely hope that the remaining hostages will be treated humanely,' the foreign ministry said in a statement.
On the other side, Palestinians cheered the return of prisoners from Israeli jails.
Of the 39 prisoners freed by Israel on Friday, 28 were released in the occupied West Bank, an AFP correspondent reported, while the other 11 were brought to annexed east Jerusalem, according to the Palestinian Prisoners' Club.
Crowds of Palestinians in the West Bank set off firecrackers, waved flags and whistled as two white coaches ferried prisoners out of the Ofer military camp, according to AFP journalists at the scene.
'I spent the end of my childhood and my adolescence in prison, far from my parents and their hugs,' freed prisoner Marah Bakir, 24, told AFP after returning to her home in annexed east Jerusalem.
'That's how it is with a state that oppresses us.'
Earlier in the evening, Israeli authorities fired tear gas to disperse the crowds. The Palestinian Red Crescent said three people were shot and wounded by Israeli security forces.
'The police are in our house and are stopping people from coming to see us,' said Fatina Salman, whose daughter Malak, now 23, was among those released.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, vowed to bring all the Hamas hostages home.
'This is one of the goals of the war, and we are committed to achieving all the goals of the war,' he said.
The pause in fighting in Gaza opened the way to desperately needed aid.
Trucks carrying supplies, including fuel, food and medicine, began moving into Gaza through the Rafah crossing from Egypt shortly after the truce began at 7am (5am UK time) Friday.
Two hundred aid trucks in total passed through - the biggest humanitarian convoy to enter the besieged territory since the war started - according to the Israeli defence ministry body that handles Palestinian civil affairs.
Jens Laerke, spokesman for UN humanitarian agency OCHA, expressed hope that the pause would lead 'to a longer-term humanitarian ceasefire'.
Gazans have struggled to survive with shortages of water and other essentials.
The ceasefire also sparked a mass movement of thousands of people who had sought refuge in schools and hospitals from relentless Israeli bombardment.
The UN estimates that 1.7 million of Gaza's 2.4 million people have been displaced by the fighting.
In southern Gaza's Khan Yunis, where many Palestinians fled, a cacophony of car horns and ambulance sirens replaced the sound of war.
People loaded belongings onto carts, strapped them to car roofs, or slung bags over their shoulders, crowding streets to return to their homes from temporary shelters.
Israeli warplanes dropped leaflets warning people that the war is not over and it is 'very dangerous' to return north, the focus of Israel's military campaign.
Palestinians fleeing southward along Salaheddine road help a man with a bandaged leg as they walk in front of Israeli army tanks in the southern outskirts of Gaza City
Several thousand Palestinians nevertheless attempted to move north on Friday, the UN humanitarian affairs organisation said.
Ziv Agmon, legal adviser to Netanyahu's office, told reporters that Israeli soldiers had been carefully prepared to receive potentially deeply traumatised women and children.
After medical examinations, the former captives would be able to telephone family members before reunions later at Israeli medical facilities, he added.
Hamas earlier released four women, and Israeli forces rescued another. Two other captives, including a woman soldier, were found dead by Israeli troops in Gaza.
Maayan Zin, whose daughters Ela and Dafna, aged eight and 15, are among the hostages, posted on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, that she had been informed their names were not on the list of those due to be released.
'This is incredibly difficult for me; I long for their return,' she wrote.
Egyptian officials confirmed on Saturday that Hamas will later free another 14 hostages in exchange for 42 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
On the first day of the four-day ceasefire, Hamas released 24 of the about 240 hostages taken during its October 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war, and Israel freed 39 Palestinians from prison.
Those freed from captivity in Gaza were 13 Israelis, 10 Thai nationals and a citizen of the Philippines.
Under the agreement, Hamas will release one Israeli hostage for every three prisoners freed.
Foreign Secretary David Cameron used a two-day trip to the region to warn Benjamin Netanyahu's government that Israel's long-term security depends on the Palestinians also being able to live in 'peace and stability and security'.
He told the BBC: 'Ultimately, there won't be long-term safety and security and stability for Israel unless there is long-term safety, security and stability for the Palestinian people.
'And you have to start thinking about the future... You've got to paint a picture of actually the Palestinians living in peace, stability and security.'
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