'Waiting for good news'NAAMA LEVY FAMILY 'OPTIMISTIC' OVER HOSTAGE DEAL

A nation prays

Naama Levy’s cousin Zack Shachar told The AJN he is feeling “optimistic” about the prospects of a hostage deal.

Photo: Naama Levy.
Photo: Naama Levy.

Thousands gathered for a long night at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv as negotiations for a hostage deal reached “the final stages”, with officials estimating that a landmark agreement to end the 15-month war is agonisingly close to being finalised.

While officials caution Israel has not received confirmation from Hamas regarding the status of the hostages, there are reports that the first to be released will include female civilians, the Bibas children and female soldiers.

Naama Levy’s cousin Zack Shachar told The AJN he is feeling “optimistic” about the prospects of a hostage deal, but shared that her family has not received any recent signs of life.

“We’re waiting,” said Shachar.

“We’re stressed, but we’re waiting for good news. I think that this time, unlike previous times, I personally feel more optimistic. There are indications that it’s going to happen and I hope that it will.”

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said he hopes the deal provides “concrete security arrangements that prevent Hamas from ruling any territory ever again”.

“We hope and pray for imminent news of the release of hostages and a comprehensive agreement that results in all of the captives coming home,” he said.

“Israeli soldiers have made enormous sacrifices in a just and necessary war, and we hope that their service to a forever grateful nation and Jewish world can now end.”

Zack Shachar has tirelessly advocated for the release of his cousin Naama Levy and the rest of the hostages almost every week in Sydney, joining with Together With Israel in holding rallies and publicly reading the names out of every innocent captive in Gaza.

Shachar said Levy’s parents and family members in Israel are “not doing great”.

“I mostly get the updates from my parents about my uncle and my auntie, and you can’t really describe it,” he said, before adding the family is just “waiting”.

Photo: Ariel and Kfir Bibas

The video of Levy being pulled by her hair, in bloodied pants, wrists tied behind her back and bundled from the back of a jeep was one of the many horrific moments captured of the Hamas attacks on October 7.

Another was the kidnapping of the Bibas family – Yarden, Shiri, Ariel and Kfir – from Kibbutz Nir Oz. Yarden’s aunt Michal Keshet also lives in Sydney and, like Shachar, has kept the plight of the hostages front of mind.

Baby Kfir was just nine months old when he was kidnapped, and this week will turn two – his second birthday in the tunnels of Gaza.

According to officials, the first stage of the potential hostage deal would see Hamas release 33 “humanitarian” hostages – children, women, female soldiers, the elderly and the sick. Israel believes most of the 33 are alive, but noted that Jerusalem has not yet received any confirmation of their status.

It said that among the first phase would be five female IDF soldiers, each of whom would be released in exchange for 50 Palestinian security prisoners, including 30 convicted terrorists who are serving life sentences.

If the first stage is carried out, Israel will begin negotiations on a second stage to free the remaining captives – male soldiers and men of military age – and the bodies of slain hostages, the officials said.

The officials also said that pressure and threats from incoming US President-elect Donald Trump had helped bring Hamas to the table, and they stressed that Israel was working with both teams, including Biden envoy Brett McGurk and Trump official Steve Witkoff, and that the administrations were also coordinating with each other.

WITH TIMES OF ISRAEL

*Since this article was published a hostage ceasefire deal has been made.*

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