Abigail and Emily, the girls who return to Israel after "a terrible trauma"

• Israel-Gaza War: These are the hostages freed by Hamas
• LIVE: Israel-Gaza War

Abigail Edan has returned home two days after her birthday kidnapped by the jihadist group Hamas. She has spent 51 days of her four years in captivity in the Gaza Strip without knowing why her parents were shot by unknown assailants, why she does not see the light of day and why hooded men took her from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, in southern Israel, to a distant place even if it is only a few kilometers from her home. Not knowing why someone named Joe Biden called her family to ask about her after she was released.

Abigail also does not know that she has become a symbol in Israel or that her return was a personal mission of the American president who, after recalling that the American-Israeli girl suffered "a terrible trauma", emotionally confirmed: "She is free. Thank God he's home."

Along with eight other Israeli children and four women, Abigail was on the list of the third wave of the truce agreement. In addition, Hamas released an Israeli-Russian "as a gesture of recognition to President Vladimir Putin for his support of the Palestinian cause," and three Thais.

Of the dozens of children kidnapped in the Oct. 7 attack that sparked Israel's massive military operation, only Abigail was kidnapped without her parents. On "Black Saturday," his kibbutz was woken up by Hamas shelling. His father Roy, a photographer for the news website YNET, didn't hesitate, came out of the house and took amazing photos of people paragliding. He hurried home. The terrorists also hurried. His wife Smadar had already been murdered. Soon after, he was shot in Abigail's presence. The girl, with her father's blood on her clothes, ran to the neighbors' house.

"Suddenly, I heard soft knocks on the door. I saw Abigail, all white with blood that you could see, wasn't hers. He started running. I took her into the house with my wife and went to get a gun," said Avichai Brodetz, who tried with other neighbors to contain the attack. When he returned, he no longer found his wife Hagar or his sons Ofri (10), Yuval (8) and Oriya (4) or Abigail, the little girl of his great friend Roy. He thought they were murdered until he was notified of the kidnapping of all of them. Not all of them because Abigail's older siblings, Mikhail (9) and Amalia (6) were saved hiding for more than 10 hours in a closet.

51 days later, grandparents Liza and Carmel followed on television every movement in the minibus as it left Gaza. "I hope they don't forget about her if she falls asleep. She was alone but when she comes she won't be," Liza promised while Carmel didn't have them all with her: "Until I see her in the hands of the soldiers, I don't believe it. I don't trust Hamas terrorists." Asked on Channel 13 what he will say to him when he sees her for the first time, he replied: "Nothing, just hugs and kisses."

Twenty-four hours earlier, Thomas Hand was able to hug his daughter Emily (9) freed in the second round of the four-day ceasefire in which Hamas frees 50 Israeli hostages (among the 239 it had) while Israel releases 150 Palestinian prisoners (women and teenagers) and increases humanitarian aid to the battered Gaza Strip that has already breathed three days without bombs. cannon shots and missiles. The two sides appear to agree to extend the truce by an additional day for every 10 women and children released.

Hand, who immigrated to Israel three decades ago from Ireland, missed Emily's birthday a week ago but not the hope of seeing her again since "Kibbutz Beeri's paradise" turned into hell. Then, members of Hamas' Nukba Unit killed more than 100 people in the town of just over 1100,13 people. Among them, Emily's stepmother. The girl was kidnapped along with her friend Hila Rotem (<>) and her mother, Raya.

While Emily was in the depths of a tunnel, her father moved in the heights on a roller coaster of powerful emotions. When told in the early days that Emily had been murdered, Hand held back her anger and even thanked him. For him, it was better to know that his little girl was dead than to imagine her suffering at the hands of Hamas on sleepless nights. "It's the best news among the options I had," she said through tears.

Days later, however, he was informed that there had been an error in the identification of the body. "We had a witness who saw the terrorists take her away in a van heading to Gaza," he said.

Like many other parents, grandparents, children and grandchildren, Hand went around the world to call for his release. "She is now in the hands of Hamas, deep in the tunnels of Hamas," he shouted at a rally near London's Downing Street, recalling that Emily at the age of 3 had already lost her mother to cancer.

"I must continue until it is returned to me, it is my only goal in life," Hand promised. Goal accomplished. Emily returned to her friend Hila, although for her the joy is not complete since her mother is still kidnapped in Gaza. Israel protested to Qatari, Egyptian and U.S. mediators, alleging that Hamas failed to comply with the requirement not to separate children from their mothers. Yahia Sinwar's group replied that they could not locate her and offered an old woman in return. Hila, however, has revealed to her family that all this time she was with her mother until they were separated on Saturday.

As soon as she crossed the border, Maya Regev (21) was rushed to Soroka Hospital where she underwent surgery. She is the first young woman to return among those kidnapped in the Palestinian armed attack on the music festival near Kibbutz Reim that ended in silence with 364 victims. Maya had gone to the party with her brother Itai, who is still kidnapped.

Since Friday, a country in deep trauma, sees and stars in an episodic drama series. At four o'clock in the afternoon every day, Israelis can't take their eyes off the screens to get excited about the children and mothers who have been part of their family since the 7-0 win.