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Israel's government approved a ceasefire deal with Hamas that would halt more than 15 months of fighting in Gaza. The deal will allow for the staggered release of some of the remaining hostages being held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and detainees being held by Israel. There's been little information available about how the hostages have been kept in Gaza and what their condition might be. Israeli health officials have been working to come up with a plan on how to best treat them, physically and mentally. As NPR's Kat Lonsdorf reports from Tel Aviv, it's a complex issue, and the road to recovery is long.
KAT LONSDORF, BYLINE: Seventy-year-old Louis Har stands in what's become known as Hostage Square, a place where the public comes to show solidarity with and remember the hostages still in Gaza. He says he's hopeful, hearing that some may be released soon, but he says it's going to be hard.
LOUIS HAR: (Speaking Hebrew).
LONSDORF: "They'll need a lot of support," he says.
Har would know. He was also held hostage in Gaza and rescued by the Israeli military in February of last year. He thinks about those who have been held hostage now for more than 15 months - how they'll handle coming home.
HAR: (Speaking Hebrew).
LONSDORF: "Every day spent there makes it harder to return to life," he says.
Israeli health officials are thinking about that, too, trying to figure out how to best prepare for a situation that's almost impossible to prepare for.
HAGAI LEVINE: This is not written in the textbook, seriously.
LONSDORF: Hagai Levine is the head of the health team for The Hostages Family Forum, the main advocacy group for the hostages. Levine is working with hospitals set to take in those who are released. He says there's so much to think about and little information to go on about what condition they'll be in or what they've been through. But he says they have learned from other hostages released throughout the war.
LEVINE: You know, even just the small things, just to prepare sunglasses, just because some of them are not used to light.
LONSDORF: Many have described being held in underground tunnels for days or weeks. The sudden light was too strong for them. Levine says many parts of a basic health evaluation could be overwhelming for them - being touched, having blood drawn or getting tests done.
LEVINE: We have a hostage that needed MRI. What it means to enter MRI machine with the noise and the closed space?
LONSDORF: And, Levine points out, it's all deeply intertwined with processing complex, long-term trauma.
LEVINE: The mental implications are so wide.
CARMIT PALTY KATZIR: My mom was kidnapped from her home barefoot and in her pajama.
LONSDORF: Carmit Palty Katzir's 77-year-old mother, Hanna, was taken hostage and released as part of the 2023 hostage deal.
KATZIR: When she was back, we thought she was a little bit obsessed over shoes.
LONSDORF: Carmit says her mom would always need to have shoes on, even in bed.
KATZIR: It took me a while to understand that it's part of the trauma - that she wanted to be prepared for any scenario, and she needed to feel like they won't catch her again.
LONSDORF: Hanna also came back with a lot of physical problems. She had lost a lot of weight, was really sick with pneumonia and a heart problem her family says she didn't have before she was taken. She died last month. It's not just medical professionals who are in uncharted territory. Family members feel that way, too.
GILI ROMAN: It was impossible to prepare ourselves for the release, even, and the return.
LONSDORF: Gili Roman's sister Yarden was held hostage in Gaza for 54 days. He says Yarden, who's in her mid-30s, came back in relatively good physical health, but she needed a lot of support. He said it was hard for everyone but also rewarding.
ROMAN: It's not a process of life and death anymore. It's a process of healing. And a process of healing, even when it's hard - it's a positive process.
LONSDORF: But one thing that he says was particularly challenging for Yarden was the loss of anonymity.
ROMAN: She became a very well-known person in Israel.
LONSDORF: The hostages here have all become household names, their pictures plastered all over city streets and used nonstop in the media. Ofrit Shapira Berman is a psychoanalyst who's been working with many of the released hostages and their families.
OFRIT SHAPIRA-BERMAN: One of the things that was shattered on October 7 was the ability to trust anyone.
LONSDORF: She says being thrust into the media spotlight has been retraumatizing for many of them, and she says it might be hard at first to really tell how much they're struggling.
BERMAN: I expect them to be in a state of euphoric shock at the beginning. And what we have experienced is that it takes time for the trauma to start showing up.
LONSDORF: Louis Har, who returned to his life in Israel after being a hostage in Gaza nearly a year ago, says healing will be a long, long process.
HAR: (Speaking Hebrew).
LONSDORF: "Slowly," he says, "we will need to help them."
Kat Lonsdorf, NPR News, Tel Aviv. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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