As Israel finalizes a deal to bring home the remaining 48 hostages—both living and deceased—from Gaza, medical and psychological experts are warning that the operation is a complex public health emergency that demands a multi-dimensional approach to recovery.
The Religious Services Ministry has already begun preparations for the remains of deceased hostages, coordinating the transfer and Jewish burial process after identification at the Abu Kabir forensics institute. The Ministry confirmed it will provide a support network for families throughout the seven days of mourning, or shiva, in coordination with each family.
Furthermore, a joint Israeli-US-Qatari-Egyptian task force will be established to locate the remains of any deceased hostages whose location is unknown, with the goal of returning all remains within 72 hours of the living hostages’ release.
"The ministry will personally accompany families of the fallen and will provide them with a network of support throughout the seven days of mourning, in full coordination with each family," Yehuda Avidan, the ministry's director-general, said in a statement.
Time is of the essence for complex medical reality
On Thursday evening, Professor Haggai Levine told The Jerusalem Post that there will be a clear difference between the health of hostages released after 49 days, 498 days, and 734 days. Levine, head of the health team at the Hostage Families Forum, stressed the complexity of transfer and post release care in a briefing ahead of the pending release.
“We don’t know what is the current status of the hostages,” he said, adding that “some of them are in real life threatening condition every moment. So there is urgency to get them out now before something bad happens.”
Levine emphasized that the handover itself carries risks. “The transfer is risky, both in terms of safety and health, nutrition, infectious diseases, psychological implications, exposure to many people after isolation.” Multiple handoffs may occur, he noted, “within Hamas, then to the Red Cross, the IDF, ambulance to helicopter, and then to the hospital.”
Hospitals are prepared, he said, but initial assessments may miss hidden problems. “We don’t know what their condition will be when they arrive, and we may miss at the beginning important handicaps and problems.”
Because prolonged malnutrition likely left many immunocompromised, Levine urged strict protocols. “We need to assume that hostages are immunocompromised,” he said. “They need to be in a sterile environment until we know how their immune system is functioning, and family members and staff may need to be vaccinated.” Even well meant gestures can endanger them, he cautioned. “People with good will give them food, and we know there is the refeeding syndrome. Until they get back the vitamin first, thiamine, B1, and then electrolytes, certain things could be life threatening.”
Levine said long term follow up is essential. Time in captivity “means more damage, psychological and physical,” including internal injuries and possible “accelerated aging.” Support “for life” may be needed for both returnees and their families.
Dr. Einati Henne, Senior Rehabilitation Psychologist at the Hostages Families Forum, addressed the psychological challenges for the hostages, their families, and the broader public.
“The more the hostages are spending time in captivity, in the horrors, in the tunnels, the longer the rehabilitation they will need,” she said. The goal is to help returnees move “from being dehumanized by the Hamas for two years to become back humans in terms of behavior, in terms of autonomy and control.”
Henne welcomed the prospect that all hostages may be released at once. She said President Trump “really stressed the need to have all hostages released in one time,” adding, “we have learned the adverse impact of sequential releases, not only on the hostages themselves, but also on the families and on their ability to recovery.”
Her team’s research found broad public effects. “The ambiguous loss trauma of the mass kidnapping had really explained a substantial, almost 50 percent, across 18 months in the public’s mental health,” she said. Even Israelis with no personal connection “were able to observe the symptoms of grief, traumatic grief,” including “guilt for going out while the hostages are still in Gaza.”
Henne also described the emotional bind for survivors. There is often “guilt feeling and his sense of commitment to those who are left behind,” which can slow recovery until all cases are resolved.
To support healing, she urged keeping together hostages who were held together. “Hostages who spend time together in captivity should remain at approximately the same hospital,” she said, to preserve familiarity and trust. Some will need a day treatment model “for several months,” and “the emotional trauma will probably need a lifelong time to heal.”
The fate of deceased hostages remains a central concern. “Their nightmare continues and will not end until they will know for sure what happened,” Henne said of these families. She warned against allowing them to feel forgotten. “We should keep the solidarity and never leave anyone alone, you’re not alone is not just a slogan.”
Levine was unequivocal on accountability. “There are 48 hostages, not 46, not any other number, 48. Hamas is responsible to bring everyone back, either for rehabilitation or for proper burial.” Without closure, he said, “the families will not have rest for their life.”
With the deal, Levine said Israel faces a wider turning point. “Now, for the first time, we have outstanding opportunity to really start the recovery process, for the released hostages, for the families, for the communities, and for the entire public. Everything will change in the coming days.”
He linked health to social trust. “People lost trust in the government, in authorities,” he said. Recovery requires “a clear plan how we recover the hostages, the families, the communities, and the public.”
Levine described a unifying civic impulse. “Millions of Israelis went to the streets on mass demonstrations for two years saying saving the life of the hostages is more important than anything else,” he said. “I hope and believe that the story of Israel is choosing life.”
Israel intends to bring back as many slain hostages as possible within 24 hours
A source familiar with the details told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday that the task force will provide heavy equipment for tasks such as digging or demolishing buildings to reach the bodies of the deceased.
The goal of the task force is to return as many remains of abducted individuals as possible to Israel, along with the living hostages, within 72 hours.
The deceased hostages are expected to be released shortly after the release of 20 living hostages on Monday, with
This comes after US President Donald Trump announced early on Thursday that Israel and Hamas had agreed to the first phase of a ceasefire deal in Gaza.
The agreement was announced after intensive talks in Sharm el-Sheikh, where US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner pushed the two parties to an agreement, along with Qatari and Egyptian mediators.
The plan was signed at noon in Egypt, and will come into effect after the Israeli government ratifies it in a vote set for 6 p.m. on Thursday.
In the immediate wake of the announcement of the deal, the IDF began preparing to shift its deployment lines in the Palestinian enclave after the Post previously reported Israel had reached a full agreement on the maps detailing the military's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip
Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.