Relatives of Israeli hostages are terrified as the Gaza ceasefire teeters

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — After 16 months of excruciating uncertainty, Idit Ohel finally received word this week that her 24-year-old son, a hostage in Gaza, is still alive.

She said she fainted upon hearing the brutal details of his captivity from freed hostages who had been held with him by Hamas since Oct. 7, 2023. Bound by chains in an underground tunnel, Alon Ohel has subsisted on a piece of bread or less each day.

“He hasn’t seen sunlight in 493 days,” she told reporters on Monday.

As the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas seems increasingly at risk of falling apart — Hamas says it will not free three hostages on Saturday as planned, and Israel says it's ready to resume the war if it doesn't — families of the hostages are struggling to maintain hope. They are pleading with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to give up on the ceasefire framework, and to speed up the timeline of releases if possible.

Their worries about the ceasefire collapsing have been exacerbated by President Donald Trump's demand that all of the hostages be freed by Saturday — and his insistence that Gaza be emptied of all Palestinians and redeveloped as a tourist enclave controlled by the United States.

The emaciated state of three hostages released last Saturday has infuriated Israelis and terrified families of the remaining hostages, especially as more details come out about the conditions of their captivity.

The situation is especially difficult for relatives of hostages who are not on the list of 33 hostages expected to be released in the ceasefire's first, six-week phase, which began on Jan. 19. The agreement requires Israel to free 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, whose families are also worried about how their enemy treats them.

Two hostages released on Saturday, Or Levy and Eli Sharabi, were held together with Alon Ohel, and a fourth hostage, Eliya Cohen. The four were held underground since their kidnapping, Idit Ohel said.

Cohen is expected to be released in the ceasefire's first stage; Ohel would be freed in the second stage, if Israel and Hamas reach that point.

Levy, Ohel, and Cohen were kidnapped from a bomb shelter near a music festival in southern Israel, along with Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American-Israeli who was killed in captivity in August.

“It breaks my heart to know he was chained and to know what happened to him in the tunnels from people in the tunnels,” Cohen’s fiancée, Ziv Abud, 27, told reporters on Tuesday.

The returned hostages said that Cohen had lost more than 20 kilograms (44 pounds) and had a bullet in his leg that did not receive medical attention. While they were with him, Cohen was unaware that Abud had survived the Hamas attack on the bomb shelter where they were hiding.

During the Oct. 7 attack, militants tossed grenades and sprayed bullets inside the concrete bomb shelter near the music festival, where almost 30 people had crammed inside. At least 16 people inside the shelter were killed.

Abud said she was protected by the crush of bodies above her. Going in and out of consciousness, she spent hours laying beneath the bodies of her nephew and his girlfriend.

For families of hostages who are not scheduled for release in the first phase of the ceasefire, its uncertainty is even more difficult to bear.

Israel and Hamas were set last week to begin talks on a second phase of the ceasefire that would include an end to the war and the release of the remaining hostages. But those efforts have been frozen while the two sides trade accusations about whether the other is living up to the terms of the first phase.

Tamir Nimrodi, 20, an Israeli soldier kidnapped from his post at a main crossing between Israel and Gaza, is not on the list to be freed in the first stage.

His mother, Herut, said Hamas’ plan to delay the next hostage release came as a shock.

“We try to analyze it, think, what are the possibilities? Is this psychological terrorism they are pulling on us?” she said.

It’s been difficult watching the hostage releases over the past few weeks, Nimrodi said, especially the emotional videos of hostages reuniting with their families.

On the one hand, each reunion is a step closer to bringing back her son, whom she described as a creative person who loves riding horses and drinking sweet cocktails made with pineapple juice. But Nimrodi does not know if her son, who also holds German citizenship, is alive.

The other two soldiers he was kidnapped with were killed, and she has not received any sign of life from him.

“I know there is a chance I won’t get to the point where I can hold my son,” she said.

According to Israeli media, returning hostages have provided proof of life for at least seven Israeli hostages, including Cohen and Ohel.

Nimrodi doesn’t know what is worse — to believe her son is dead, or to receive information that he is alive, but held in conditions like Alon Ohel. “I’m scared if Tamir is still alive, I have no idea what he’s going through, I’m scared to even imagine,” she said.

Idit Ohel received the information about her son's condition less than an hour before she went on Israel’s Channel 12 news program earlier this week.

She sat at the news desk sobbing on live TV, pleading with the government to continue to the second stage of the ceasefire and bring all of the hostages home as soon as possible.

Alon, who also has German and Serbian citizenship, is a talented pianist. The family has placed pianos across Israel in his honor, many of which are yellow, the color associated with the struggle for the hostages.

The family marked Alon's second birthday in captivity on Monday evening in Tel Aviv, where his mother addressed the Israeli government. “After all the sights you saw, after all the testimonies you heard from the survivors of captivity, how do you allow this situation to continue?” she said.

Alon did remember his younger sister, Inbar, had a birthday on Saturday and delivered her a message through the hostages who were released that day.

“She got her birthday wish, to hear from her brother, which is incredible,” Idit said, through tears.

FILE - Herut Nimrodi poses for a portrait with a poster of her son, Tamir Nimrodi, an Israeli soldier taken hostage on Oct. 7, 2023, and being held by Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, at a rally for hostages and their families in Tel Aviv, Israel, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)

FILE - Sigi and Momi Cohen, flanked on the couch by their children Yuval, Michal, and Tamar, hold up a portrait of their 27-year-old son, Eliya Cohen, in the family house in the village of Tzur Hadassah, Israel, Oct. 30, 2023. Cohen, an Israeli citizen, was abducted by Hamas militants from the "Nova" Music Festival near Kibbutz Re'im, Hamas fighters during the group's attack on Oct. 7 that resulted in the killing of over 1,400 people and the abduction of over 220. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg, File)

FILE - Ziv Abud talks about the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, at the Nova music festival during an interview at her house in Tel Aviv, Israel, Sept. 19, 2024. Abud survived, protected by the crush of bodies above her, in a roadside bomb shelter near the Kibbutz Reim. Her boyfriend, Eliya Cohen, was taken captive. (AP Photo/Leo Correa, File)

Einav Zangauker holds a poster of her son, Matan, who is held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, at a protest outside of Israel's Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025, after the militant group announced it would delay hostage releases in the Gaza Strip after accusing Israel of violating a fragile ceasefire. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Relatives of hostages, held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, protest outside of Israel's Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025, after the militant group announced it would delay hostage releases in the Gaza Strip after accusing Israel of violating a fragile ceasefire. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Relatives and supporters of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip protest outside the prime minister's office in Jerusalem on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. after Hamas announced it would delay a planned hostage release after accusing Israel of violating a fragile ceasefire. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

People holding posters with photos of Israelis hostages Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami, gather at the so-called "hostages square" waiting for their release in Tel Aviv, Israel on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Israeli captive Or Levy, who has been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023, is escorted by Hamas fighters before being handed over to the Red Cross in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday Feb. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Israeli captives, from left to the right, Ohad Ben Ami, Eli Sharabi and Or Levy, who have been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, are escorted by Hamas fighters on a stage before being handed over to the Red Cross in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

FILE - A poster depicting Israeli hostage Alon Ohel is displayed in Re'im, southern Israel at the Gaza border, Feb. 26, 2024, at a memorial site for the Nova music festival site where he was kidnapped to Gaza by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)

Relatives of hostages, held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, protest in Tel Aviv, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025 after the militant group announced it would delay hostage releases in the Gaza Strip after accusing Israel of violating a fragile ceasefire. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.

The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.

The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.

The U.S.-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Islamic State group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria's national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.

The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”

The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.

Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.

The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.

On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.

Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.

“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”

Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.

Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.

“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.

Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.

Sandbag barriers used as fighting positions by Kurdish fighters, left inside a destroyed mosque in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

People flee the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A Syrian military police convoy enters the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles and ammunitions left at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)