The internal process to bring Israel hostages to the house from Gaza

It starts with a phone call with a site.

Once the details are received, a team from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) starts in vehicles bearing the slogan of the Humanitarian Organization to capture the hostages in Gaza.

Israeli military and medical employees are also assembled in several different locations, pending their return home.

The hostages, which were seen all over the world, come after months of tense negotiations aimed at ending the war that started on October 7, 2023, when Hamas fighters killed about 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 251 others.

During the 15 months that followed, more than 47,000 Palestinians were killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health, and many lost their homes in the Israeli bombing.

According to the conditions of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which started on January 19, 33 Israeli hostages are scheduled to be launched and returned to their families during the first stage, which lasts for six weeks.

On the other hand, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are released in Israeli prisons.

If something happens, it risks the remaining hostages in captivity, and re -ignites the war.

“This is more than just a drive,” says ICRC spokeswoman Sarah Davis.

“These operations may seem simple, but in reality they are very complicated and require strict security measures to reduce the risks of the participants.”

The ICRC, which works as a neutral mediator in delivery, collects a team of specialists, some of whom participated in similar operations in the past – although this is more difficult than most of them.

There are some details that the group cannot talk publicly due to fears that it may expose the security of the operation to be safe.

Ms. Davis says that planning is very important to ensure the stock exchange runs smoothly. They have set alternative ways to reach various sites in Gaza, knowing that “the safest way can change” at any time.

Among their biggest fears are the risks of unique munitions, destructive infrastructure, damage, and large crowds with “increasing feelings”.

“Our teams are preparing and plans for the largest possible number of scenarios,” she says.

“The most important thing for us is to be able to return any person who has been assigned to take care of us safely to their homes.”

But it is impossible to plan everything.

“From the previous experience, here and elsewhere around the world, we know that logistics and final details can change at any time, even – especially – during the same operations,” says Ms. Davis.

The medical staff and specialists in weapons pollution, who are trained to determine the remains of the explosive war, are trained with the difference.

During the operations, the ICRC representatives also maintain regular contact with both Israeli officials and Hamas, as well as mediators.

In previous versions, Hamas distributed the names of the hostages issued on its own toiletries, without revealing the exact place of delivery operations.

The first general signs of sites were the presence of armed members and fortified in the Hamas military wing.

“I discovered from a kiosk man that there was something happening at the intersection and that the Qassam fighters were suffering from a show,” says one of the local journalists about the first release in Gaza City earlier this month.

The crowds began to gather to watch while the fighters were collected in the formation, and the word began to publish this The first three hostages were released Under the ceasefire deal will appear there.

He says: “When people realized that this would be the place where they would hand over the Israeli hostages, people began chanting (for the numbers of Al -Qassam and the senior Hamas).” “They started screaming” God is greater ” – which showed their happiness.

The journalist was also there The second version – In a different location in Gaza City – the next week, which he describes as “more organized”.

The fighters established a small stage area with an office and chairs, and they stood in the formation to separate the hostages from the crowds.

White cars with wet windows were used to bring hostages – four soldiers – to the area.

The young women who thanked their kidnappers and giving gift bags were filmed in a video posted by Hamas Military Wing.

They were brought to the theater and waved in the crowd, before they were handed over to the care of the ICRC.

“The scenes and details” from delivery, similar to “tells the story of the creativity of resistance and heroism and enhancing the model of pride and dignity.”

Ms. Davis says there are some aspects of delivery “out of our control.”

“At all times, ICRC employees do their best to protect the dignity of those who are released, but … it is important for people to know the limits of what we can do,” she says.

“Our priority is still a safe and successful version and the transfer of those in our care.”

The hostages are transferred to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) on the outskirts of Gaza.

“We are ready through the suburbs of Gaza and other areas to receive the hostages,” says Colonel Dr. Avi Banouf, deputy head of the Israel Defense Forces Corps.

“We are always preparing because Hamas does not tell us,” Well, we will liberate them in this field or in this field. “

Through the border, reception points were created for receipt.

On the site are the crew of military and medicine, social workers and hostages families.

The former Israeli army doctor who participated in the first hostage operation during the ceasefire in November 2023, is waiting for an ambulance at a base near the border. He had one of the numerous teams in a willingness if a hostage was exposed to a medical emergency and says that there are strict instructions on how to interact with those who returned.

He remembers: “We were told if you evacuate them, do not ask them questions, do not do anything that is not appropriate, just be calm, then if the hostages ask something or want something, of course you will answer and give them to them.

He says that the atmosphere at the base was one of the excitement and nerves. “It was very important,” he says.

Colonel Dr. Banouf says that the return begins with an introduction between the hostages and medical employees.

Returning hostages are appointed as a doctor, nurse, and a social worker “accompanying them throughout the way” to the hospital.

Families are advised to give the hostages a “little time” with medical teams before reunification to allow them to breathe and understand that they are (they) in a safe place again. “

“We start with vitamins, which is a small thing to eat and drink, then families,” says Colonel Dr. Banov.

As part of the “grounding” process, he says, efforts are made to give the hostage agency that was issued to make their own decisions, with questions such as: “Do you want to shower before or after meeting your parents?”

Among the first seven hostages to be released, most of them “suffer from fragments” in addition to suffering from malnutrition and metabolic problems.

“It is not physically good, it is a very complicated issue,” he says.

In the coming weeks, it is noted that the bodies of dead hostages will also arrive, with plans to transfer them to a criminal laboratory before the funerals in Israel.

After receiving the initial treatment at the reception point, the surviving hostages are transported in a “specifically adapted” helicopter to a hospital elsewhere in the country.

“We tell them … we will take a helicopter to the homeland. After that, if you are ready for that, we will start talking about what you went through.”

There the appropriate recovery process begins.