When the celebrations end, Netanyahu faces reckoning

The scene in Hostages Square, Tel Aviv, on Thursday afternoon was one of nervous relief rather than joy.

- ALAN RUSBRIDGER

There had been too many false dawns for anyone to start unbridled celebrations.

The giant digital clock, when I dropped by, recorded 733 days, 11 hours and 47 minutes since 251 hostages were snatched in October 2023. Crowds milled aimlessly around; reporters scanned their mobiles for updates; the merch stalls were doing good business for hostage T-shirts, coffee cups and keyrings. Two women took it in turns to hold a giant placard proclaiming: “We love Trump. He who saves just one life saves an entire world.” Well, perhaps.

I stooped my way through the “tunnel experience” - an art installation claiming to simulate the underground experience of the hostages - and paused to watch a circle of relatives quietly dancing and singing. A former hostage, Omer Shem Tov, cautioned the crowd against too much hope. “With all that joy, I have to say: it’s not over yet.”

The phrase of the moment was: “It’s hard to breathe.” Almost everyone in the square was, if only metaphorically, holding their breath.

Hours earlier, Donald Trump had posted the promise of a “Strong, Durable and Everlasting Peace”. But, with all respect to the current holder of the office, Trump is not the first US president to tread this rocky path and the precedents are not encouraging. Everlasting is a very long time.