As their loved ones begin recovering from over two years in Hamas captivity, relatives and close friends of the remaining 20 living hostages released by Hamas on Monday said Tuesday evening that the freed captives are rehabilitating but have sustained mental and physical injuries.

Family members of hostages have said that the captives were held in inhumane conditions, leaving them emotionally and sometimes physically scarred. Others have posted more positive news about their loved ones’ conditions. The freed captives were reportedly undergoing intensive medical testing and examination.

Several relatives and friends have also expressed gratitude toward government officials and activists alike for their long efforts to bring the hostages back home. But some of them omitted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from the list while showering praise on US President Donald Trump.

The omission reflects many family members’ longstanding criticism of the premier for his perceived insensitivity to the hostages’ plight and lengthy delay in securing their release, and comes after Netanyahu and his wife Sara visited freed hostages in Petah Tikva’s Beilinson Hospital on Tuesday, where he promised to bring the bodies of deceased hostages home, as he did with the living ones.

“With the same determination, with the same sense of responsibility and seriousness, we are working to bring them back,” the premier said in a video statement from the hospital. “We will spare no effort and no means to bring them back.”

Here is how relatives and friends of many of the freed hostages have described their condition.

Miran, a father of two who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nahal Oz, was reunited with his daughters, ages 4 and 2. The government released a photo of the family playing together following Miran’s release.

Dani, Miran’s father, told the Kan public broadcaster about his emotional reunion with his son.

“It was the strongest hug I could ever give a human being,” he said. “The first words I said to him were ‘I love you, I missed you,’ and he replied, ‘Dad, me too.’”

Miran’s wife, Lishay Miran-Lavi, wrote a post on X thanking those who helped secure the release of her husband from captivity in Gaza, without mentioning Netanyahu. She thanked Trump and his administration profusely, as well as the government of Hungary, where Miran is a citizen, and other activists for Omri’s release.

“Thank you to President @realDonaldTrump and the entire Trump Administration for their relentless efforts to bring Omri and the other hostages home,” she wrote. “Thank you to the senior members of the Trump administration, who were available to us around the clock, opened the @WhiteHouse doors to us at all times, even when no one else would speak with us.”

Or was taken hostage from the Nova music festival alongside his girlfriend, Noa Argamani, who was freed in an IDF rescue operation in June 2024, along with three other hostages. A video of the pair being kidnapped became one of the most well-known pieces of footage from the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre. Following Or’s release on Monday, a video circulated of the two joyously embracing.

On Tuesday, Argamani posted a lengthy message to social media, describing her jubilation at Or’s return.

Two years. Two years passed since the last moment I saw Avinatan, the love of my life. Two years since the moment terrorists kidnapped us, put me on a motorcycle, and tore me away from Avinatan before the eyes of the entire world.

From that moment, our journey in captivity was…

© The Times of Israel