Hostage deal optimism

Naama Levy’s Australian cousin: ‘We’re waiting for good news’

According to officials, the first stage of the potential hostage deal would see Hamas release 33 'humanitarian' hostages

Naama Levy.
Naama Levy.

Naama Levy’s cousin Zack Shachar has 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.”

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

Zack Shachar holding a poster of his cousin, Naama Levy.

Hamas recently released a disturbing propaganda video of hostage Liri Albag, who was kidnapped from the Nahal Oz base along with Levy, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger and Daniella Gilboa.

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”.

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.

Kfir (left) and Ariel Bibas/

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.

If the first stage is carried out, then on the 16th day of the deal coming into effect, 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.

They denied an earlier report that claimed the first Israeli hostages would only be released a week into the ceasefire taking effect. It is believed that 94 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.

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

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