Hen Mazzig
"As soon as I see him, I will say to him, 'Welcome, welcome, and welcome,' and of course I will hug him. And while hugging him, I will feel his body, check if anything is missing, if everything is okay. Just like taking an X-ray with my eyes, and then we will move forward." The father of hostage Hisham al-Sayed, 37, is eagerly waiting his return tomorrow, after his son, who suffers from mental health issues, accidentally wandered into Gaza almost a decade ago. “The feelings are difficult. We receive fallen hostages on Thursday, and they are like our family. We hope that on Shabbat we will receive Hisham, and that we will receive him safe and sound. We will retrace our steps after that. "Right now we are not excited or celebrating, until we know what the situation really is. Yesterday we were informed that he is coming home. We have waited ten years – so we will wait until Shabbat as well.” "Following the recent return of the hostages, some of whom were not in good condition, it is more stressful. We are taking into account that Hisham could return in this condition or even worse. This gave us a warning, so the feelings are not easy."
