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<\/a><\/p>\nTova Gohar, at center, joins the crowds of people celebrating news of a ceasefire deal at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv on Oct. 9, 2025. (John Wessels \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
At a kiosk across from a Chanel boutique, fruit vendor Amit Bonen said she had learned not to trust good news too quickly. \u201cI have optimism, but it\u2019s filled to the brim with pessimism,\u201d she said. \u201cI won\u2019t believe anything until I see it with my own eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her colleague, Rinat, nodded in agreement. \u201cYou can\u2019t trust those terrorists,\u201d she said. \u201cWho knows what trick they have up their sleeve?\u201d<\/p>\n
But Or, en route to a cosplay event, dismissed the caution. \u201cWhy not celebrate?\u201d he said. \u201cThe hostages will come home. They\u2019ll leave people in Gaza alone. What\u2019s not to love?\u201d<\/p>\n
A few blocks away, Hostages Square looked transformed. For nearly two years it had been a gathering place for families of hostages and their supporters and for vigils marked by grief. On Thursday it was filled with songs that had become the soundtrack of wartime resilience \u2014 \u201cAm Yisrael Chai,\u201d \u201cMachshavot Tovot,\u201d \u201cVe\u2019od Yoter Tov.\u201d Impromptu circles of dance formed. American flags fluttered beside effigies of Donald Trump and handmade posters thanking the American president, who helped broker the agreement. Children leaned over folding tables, coloring \u201cwelcome home\u201d notes for returning hostages.<\/p>\n
Ariel Vinter, from Jerusalem, led the crowd in singing. The past two years had strengthened her faith, she said, which she leaned on to cope with the loss of her cousins, Ofir Tzarfati check sp and Tchelet Fishbein, who were killed on Oct. 7 at the Nova festival and Be\u2019eri, respectively.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t digested what happened to them. I don\u2019t think I ever will,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I know the families will only be able to heal when Eviatar and Guy are back,\u201d referring to Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa Dalal, who were with Tzarfati when he was killed and who were taken hostage to Gaza.<\/p>\n
Michel Illouz, whose son Guy was abducted from the Nova festival and later confirmed killed in Gaza, harbored no doubts about the news.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 100% know we are ending this war,\u201d he said. \u201cEveryone must understand that the only option is by peace and not war. For the Israeli side and Palestinian side.\u201d<\/p>\n
He would only find peace, he said, once he saw his son\u2019s body. \u201cI want to touch him. I want to make this closure.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cFrom this trauma, from this holocaust, we will have a great future for all our nation,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would never be here right now without him,\u201d referring to Trump.<\/p>\n
Nearby, well-wishers lined up to embrace relatives of the hostages. A woman who asked to hug Meirav Gonen, mother of freed hostage Romi Gonen, told her, \u201cAll along you were the source of strength for all of us to fight for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Afterward, she told JTA: \u201cThey\u2019re so strong. Why shouldn\u2019t we be? It\u2019s a matter of hours now. Nothing else matters. We can finally return to life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gonen said the families were united by a shared determination. \u201cOf course we\u2019re holding our breath,\u201d she said. \u201cBut this time it\u2019s different. Everyone is together on this. You can feel it. Everything is aligned for this to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her daughter\u2019s release during a January ceasefire had not ended her own sense of obligation for the hostages.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a hole that hasn\u2019t been filled,\u201d she said. Like others, she credited Trump: \u201cWe couldn\u2019t have done this without him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among those taking part in the celebrations was Anat, a founding member of Bo\u2019u, a volunteer movement formed in late 2024 to push for a hostage-release deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the first time, I feel I can breathe,\u201d she said. \u201cBut it was all down to us \u2014 the Israeli people. We made Trump understand that most Israelis wanted the war to end \u2014 that our values, unlike the government\u2019s, are about responsibility to one another. We were all partners in bringing them home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some people came to the square for the first time. Doron Katz, who was freed from captivity with her daughters in the first hostage deal in November 2023, said she had stayed away until now. \u201cIt was too hard before,\u201d she said. \u201cBut now, seeing people smiling and dancing \u2014 it\u2019s very moving.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nechamit, who traveled from Netanya with nine friends, called it \u201ca historic day.\u201d Her friend, Ariella, described the atmosphere simply as \u201ccelebratory.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re ready to give Trump the Nobel Peace Prize for this,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Nearby, Tova Gohar waved a giant American flag. She said she came to \u201cthank Trump for forcing Israel and the Arab countries into signing the deal. He\u2019s a businessman, he knows how to do deals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Activists planned to sustain activities in the square in the coming days, as Israeli lawmakers sign off on the deal and the public awaits the hostages\u2019 return. Prayers will be held in the square on Shabbat, and the public is invited to bring their Friday night dinners to create a communal experience.<\/p>\n
Fourteen-year-old Noam Salame, from Karnei Shomron, said he was thinking about what the hostages would experience when they returned.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just imagining Bar Kupershtein seeing his father speak for the first time,\u201d he said. Bar\u2019s father, Tal, was left unable to speak after a stroke five years ago and has since regained his voice \u2014 a recovery he said came from determination to bring his son home, after Bar was abducted from the Nova festival.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd of Ziv and Gali Berman watching Maccabi Tel Aviv\u2019s ascent in the [Euroleague],\u201d he added, referring to the 27-year-old twins, both avid soccer fans, who were kidnapped by Hamas from Kibbutz Kfar Aza.<\/p>\n