The scenes at the latest hostage release in Gaza angered Israelis and created even more uncertainty surrounding the next steps in a phased cease-fire deal.

http://archive.today/2025.02.09-005201/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/08/world/middleeast/israel-hamas-hostages-prisoners.html

Gideon Saar, Israel’s foreign minister, invoked the defining Jewish trauma of the last century, writing on social media, “The Israeli hostages look like Holocaust survivors.”

The spectacle on Saturday was sure to reinforce pressure from some Israelis for the government to find a way to recover all of the remaining hostages in Gaza. For others, it will bolster the view that Israel should resume the war after the first six-week phase of the cease-fire expires on March 2, rather than negotiate a long-term peace.

What happens next is far from certain.