I just want to hug those girls' Bittersweet joy and relief as freed soldiers return home

Nineteen-year-old Naama Levy became an indelible symbol of Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel.

- Bethan McKernan

In footage from that day, an armed man dragged the barefoot and bleeding soldier out of the back of a Jeep on to a street in Gaza. Her arms were tied behind her back and blood pooled in the seat of her pyjamas. Onlookers cheered at her distress.

For months, the women of Levy’s all-female surveillance unit – tatzpitaniyot – had noticed unusual practice raids and drills taking place on the other side of the fence, but their reports and warnings were ignored by commanders . Fifteen women from the unit were killed when Hamas fighters stormed their base on the Gaza border, and seven taken hostage.

Now, not just Levy’s abduction, but her redemption, will go down in Israeli history. Last Saturday, 15 months after their ordeal began, her family and those of three other women from the unit sobbed with relief as they embraced their daughters, freed during the second week of a fragile ceasefire and hostage release deal.

"I was amazed by their mental strength. Strong women who survived days of hell - and the light in their eyes did not go out," the hospital director said. When the Israeli news showed the four soldiers being reunited with their families, Hostages Square in central Tel Aviv erupted, the crowd clapping, cheering and hugging each other.

"It's an incredible moment, I am so happy," said Gali Cohen, 28, a member of a group of about 1,000 former and serving tatzpitaniyot, or "spotters", who came together to support the women's families and campaign for a hostage release deal.