Joy & hope.... on both sides

Scars can begin to heal ...for the hostages, and for all the Middle East

- BY CHRIS HUGHES

THEIR physical suffering is over. Whatever scars the past two years have left, they will now have the chance to heal.

After what they've been through, that is the important thing right now, a fact reflected in yesterday's jubilation in Tel Aviv's Hostage Square, in the West Bank and in Gaza.

It was palpable from dawn, the streets of Tel Aviv filling with people drawn to the square to witness the dramatic releases.

For a while, as big screens broadcast the descent of Donald Trump's Air Force One into Ben Gurion airport, and cries of "thank you, Mr President" rang out through loudspeakers, the whole occasion felt uncomfortably detached from reality.

But as the hostages were handed over to the Red Cross and afterwards the IDF, then safely across the border, Israel believed it was happening.

Cries and cheers went up, and waves of emotion rippled through the square at the recognition that the first few were safe. You felt the significance of the moment.

CELEBRATIONS

The scenes were mirrored in Gaza and the West Bank as hundreds of Palestinian captives were welcomed with tears of joy as they were released to their families.

They exited a Red Cross bus in Ramallah, in the West Bank, many draped in traditional keffiyeh scarves.