For 460 days, the families of the hostages have been waiting for their relatives to return home. In the meantime, while their lives have been stopped, the lives of their families continue without them, and they celebrate important events with endless longing and great hope of hugging them again soon.
A birthday for a daughter that Sagi doesn't know
Avital Dekel Chen hoped for a Hanukkah miracle that would bring her husband, Sagi, back to her, so that he would be by her side at the birth of their third daughter. But he didn't return, and Shahar was born without a father. More than a year has passed since then, and Sagi was not there on her first birthday either.
"It's a sad moment," says Avital, "The most important person to Shahar is an hour's drive away and can't come." The Dekel Chen family has a tradition of making an album on birthdays with photos from the past year, but Shahar's album doesn't have a single photo with her father.
"I included Sagi's presence in the greeting I wrote for her, and I signed it off by saying that Dad and Mom love her very much. And it's so true. If there's anything that motivates Sagi to survive, it's the fact that a wife and three children are waiting for him here," she said.
Alma still calls for her father
Alma Miran began to speak when she was a year old. Her first word was Or, then Mama. Her father, Omri Miran, was kidnapped when she was six months old. He doesn't know what her voice sounds like. "When she said 'Mama', it made me happy, but it also hurt. What kind of child says 'Mama' before 'Daddy'? It's much harder," says Lishay, Omri's wife. "I realized I needed to use the word Daddy more often around her. The first time she said Daddy, when she looked at a picture of Omri, it moved me more than any word she said before or after.
More than half his life in captivity
Kfir Bibas was kidnapped when he was nine months old. "Kfir marked his first birthday last year while he was in captivity," says his aunt Ofri. "He marked it separately from his father, his family and his home. He didn't receive gifts or a cake, and he didn't blow out a candle." Crowds celebrated his birthday all over the world. Orange balloons, like his red hair, were released into the air. Child stars dedicated songs to him. "A year ago, our wish for him was that he would come back to us," his aunt said.
Yarden Bibas was kidnapped by Gazans
A year has passed and he's still hostage there. "Even his second birthday was taken away from him," says Ofri. Kfir and his brother, Ariel, are the last children left in Gaza. In 10 days, Kfir will be two years old, spending more than half of his life in captivity.
Bar mitzvah with a father in Gaza
At a bar mitzvah, an event that symbolizes entrance into the adult world, it is customary for a father to accompany his son. But when Erez Calderon went to the synagogue about two months ago, his uncle Nissan Calderon stood by his side. Erez was forced to grow up even earlier, when he was kidnapped with his father, Ofer, and his sister, Sahar, from Kibbutz Nir Oz.
Sahar and Erez were released in the hostage deal more than a year ago, Ofer was left behind in the Hamas tunnels. "We hoped so much that after a whole year in the Hamas tunnels his father would return for a big hug with his family," said Hadas, Erez's mother, at the time. "It didn't happen. Enough! Bring back our Ofer."
Completing officers' course alone
Agam Berger had been planning her military service since she started the pre-military preparatory school. In the past 15 months, Agam has missed the opportunity for command. She was kidnapped from the base she arrived at just two days earlier. Her twin sister, Li-Yam, enlisted before her.
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Li-Yam has managed to finish the officers' course that they both dreamed of, and Agam did not get to see her sister at the graduation ceremony. "I know how much being an officer gives a person," says their father, Shlomi. "I was an officer and instructor in the 1st Airborne Division and I am proud that Li-Yam chose to go to the course, a decision that came precisely after Agam's capture. She wants to contribute everything she can to the IDF. We know that Agam would be proud of her. "These girls are the example for our leaders."