People react as they watch the hostage release live stream at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Oct. 13, 2025. Chris McGrath/Getty Images
Israelis celebrated throughout the country on Oct. 13 as the final 20 living hostages were returned to the country after 738 days in captivity.
The release of hostages on Monday marked the end of one of the most painful chapters in the nation’s history, following the mass abductions during Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
