A journey of hope, uncertainty on long road to peace

Preparations were underway on Sunday to ramp up aid entering the war-battered Gaza Strip under a new ceasefire deal that many are hoping will signal an end to the devastating two-year-long war.

- Agencies

US President Donald Trump and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will on Monday chair a Gaza peace summit in Sharm el-Sheikh set to be attended by world leaders including the head of the UN. The gathering in the Red Sea resort town will bring together “leaders from more than 20 countries”, Sisi’s office said. It will seek “to end the war in the Gaza Strip, enhance efforts to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East, and usher in a new era of regional security”. On Sunday, the Egyptian foreign ministry said a “document ending the war in the Gaza Strip” was expected to be signed during the “historic” gathering.

But for many families, from Israel as well as Palestine, the prisoner-hostage swap brings both hope and uncertainty.

The war began when Hamas-led militants launched a surprise attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage.

For a Palestinian couple, Monday will hopefully bring back their sons after nearly 34 years.

For families of Israeli hostages, it is about helping their loved ones cope after years in captivity.

Swap brings hope to prisoners’ families

A stone's throw from the wall separating Israel and the occupied West Bank, the Shamasneh family is ready to welcome home two sons jailed for the past 34 years. Abdel Jawad and Mohammed are expected to be among the Palestinians freed from Israeli detention.

“Today I'm so happy the world feels too small for my joy,” declared their elated mother, 83-year-old Halima Shamasneh.

Halima and her husband Yusef gathered their children and grandchildren in the family home in the West Bank village of Qatanna just north of Jerusalem, to celebrate the news. On the house’s walls, the many photos of the brothers before their arrest have faded in colour. Their clothes reflect the 1980s, the decade in which the two men were arrested. Abdel Jawad is now 62 and Mohammed in his late 50s.