Lucy Manning & Frances Mao
BBC News
FAMILY PHOTO
Hostage Eli Sharabi [centre] is seen here pictured with his family who were all killed in Hamas’s attack in southern Israel on 7 October 2023
British families of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas are reacting with cautious hope to the ceasefire deal that has been negotiated to end the 15 months of war in Gaza.
The 94 hostages still held by Hamas – 34 of whom are presumed dead – will be released under the deal in various stages, US President Joe Biden has confirmed.
The daughter of 84-year-old hostage Oded Lifschitz told the BBC she hoped her father was still alive. “Miracles do happen,” Sharone Lifschitz said from her east London home.
The family of another hostage, Eli Sharabi, said they hoped he could be freed in the first phase of the deal, where 33 hostages will be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
“I’ve thought so hard about how I would feel at this moment but now it’s happening I don’t know what to feel,” said his brother-in-law Stephen Brisley.
Mr Brisley’s sister Lianne, a British citizen, and his teenage nieces Noiya and Yahel were murdered in Hamas’s attack in southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
Israel in response launched a massive military offensive to destroy Hamas. Its campaign has killed more than 46,700 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry, displaced most of the 2.3 million population and caused widespread destruction.
There remain severe shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter in Gaza.
After months of on-and-off negotiations, a ceasefire deal has been reached and is due to come into effect on Sunday, said Qatari and US meditators.
Mr Brisley, from Bridgend in south Wales, told the BBC he was cautious about his brother-in-law’s release as feared potential set-backs.
“This is the best news we have had up until now but you just never know with the parties invo
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