Sawt Falasteen - 'They're coming back': Israelis await return of Gaza hostages

Many wore stickers reading "They're coming back", waving Israeli and US flags and clutching photos of the hostages after Israel and Hamas reached a hostage release and truce deal in a major step towards ending the war.

A group of beaming Israelis sang, clapped and jumped in a circle in Hostages Square, which has been the scene of weekly rallies calling for the captives' return.

"We have been waiting for this day for 734 days. We cannot imagine being anywhere else this morning," said Laurence Ytzhak, 54, a Tel Aviv resident.

"It's a great joy -- an immense relief mixed with anxiety, fear and sorrow for the families who haven't and won't get to experience this joy," he said.

"As I speak to you, I get goosebumps... It's too beautiful, and we cannot help but think of the soldiers who sacrificed their lives for these hostages," he told AFP.

US President Donald Trump announced that both sides had agreed to a ceasefire and a hostage-prisoner exchange programme as part of a 20-point plan he had proposed last month.

The formal agreement is expected to be signed later Thursday in Egypt, a key mediator alongside the United States and Qatar.

"There are no words to describe the feeling today. It's indescribable, like spontaneous joy, excitement, tears," said Rachel Peery, 49, a high-tech employee.

"We all came here from the office because we are just unable to work. It's a day that the entire nation has been waiting for, for two years, every second, every day."

- 'What hope feels like' -

Businessman Gyura Dishon was equally jubilant that the hostages were coming home.

"It's unbelievable... You couldn't stop crying," he said.

"It's like something that you wouldn't believe can happen and you were wishing for it to happen and then it's coming true all of a sudden."

The deal could free the remaining living hostages within days, in a major step toward ending the two-year war.

Of the 251 people abducted during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack which sparked the war, militants still hold 47 in Gaza, including 25 the Israeli military says are dead.

Hamas's assault on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel's retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed at least 67,194 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the United Nations considers credible.

Noam Ekhaus, a 36-year-old photographer and neuroscience researcher said she woke up in the middle of the night, saw the news, and went straight to Hostages Square.

"I can't just celebrate at home alone," she said.

"I haven't been smiling like this in a while and I don't think that I'm the only one," she added.

"I'm walking down the street and I'm feeling something different and I'm seeing something different and this is what hope feels like."

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O.Farraj--SF-PST