Daijiworld Media Network – Jerusalem

Jerusalem, Oct 13: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu have added a heartfelt handwritten message to the welcome kits prepared for hostages released by Hamas after more than two years in captivity.

“On behalf of the entire people of Israel, welcome back! We have been waiting for you. We embrace you. — Sara and Benjamin Netanyahu,” the note in Hebrew read. Netanyahu’s office shared an image of the message on X, adding that the kits include clothing, a laptop, a mobile phone, and a tablet to help the freed hostages reconnect with normal life.

Hamas, which launched a deadly assault on Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking over 250 hostages, has released 20 Israelis in the first phase of a ceasefire agreement.

Under the US-brokered peace plan led by President Donald Trump, Hamas is expected to release all remaining 47 hostages, both living and deceased, following which Israel will free about 2,000 Palestinian detainees.

President Trump, who announced earlier today that the “war is over” in Gaza, is en route to Israel to meet the families of the hostages. Afterward, he will travel to Egypt, where he and President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will co-host a peace summit with over 20 world leaders to support the roadmap for lasting peace in the Middle East.

As part of the deal, Israel will conduct a partial military withdrawal from Gaza, to be replaced by a US-led multinational peacekeeping force.

The conflict, which began with Hamas’s 2023 attacks, has been the deadliest in Gaza’s history, leaving over 67,000 people dead and displacing around two million amid Israel’s retaliatory operations.