Husband of German hostage in Gaza expresses joy over family’s release

The husband of a German-Israeli dual national released from captivity by hostage-takers in the Gaza Strip has expressed his happiness at the return of his wife and their two young daughters.

However, he would not celebrate until all the kidnapped people had returned home, he said in a video message in Hebrew posted to Facebook late Friday evening.

“I am happy that I got my family back,” he said.

According to Israeli media, the mother and the two children were abducted from their grandmother’s house.

The grandmother herself was murdered by terrorists in the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7.

The man said he would help his wife and children recover from the trauma they had suffered: “There are still difficult days ahead of me.”

The first 24 hostages were released from the Gaza Strip on Friday at the start of a temporary truce between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hama in the Gaza war.

The released hostages were made up of 13 Israelis, including four dual nationals who also have German citizenship, as well as 10 Thai citizens and a Filipino citizen.

All of them were kidnapped from Israel during the Oct. 7 attacks and had been held in captivity in Gaza.