Oriyah Yahbas, a cousin of Yarden (Jordan) Bibas who was abducted with his wife Shiri and children Ariel (4) and Kfir (10m) to Gaza, spoke to 103FM Radio about the prisoner swap, which her cousin will not be included in.
"We are expecting and hoping for the return of Shiri and the children, and we also expect and hope for the return of Yarden - we do not lose sight of that even for a moment," she explained. "From our perspective it is not over until it's over, until Yarden and Shiri and the children come home we will continue spreading their cries and making their voices heard in every place."
She also estimated that Yarden had been separated from his wife and children.
"We can only hope that Shiri and the children are at least together," she said. "We understand that Yarden and Shiri and the children were separated. Yarden was taken on one motorbike, Shiri and the children were taken by other people on a different motorbike. Yaren was taken on a motorcycle while they hit him on the head with a hammer, and he was all bloody and injured. Shiri and the children - we all saw the photos. We can only hope that their welfare was really preserved. Hope is all we have left - we don't have much more to hold on to. We have no information."
"The knowledge that there is some possibility that Shiri and the children will be at home, and be in a safe place - obviously filled us with a lot of hope and happiness. At the same time we are torn by the knowledge that Yarden is not on the table at all right now. We also understand, and we all, I think, saw this in the past 24 hours - that we really do not have anyone we can rely on. As proof, we are currently in a situation in which it is not clear what is happening with this deal. From our perspective, we are continuing, and it is not over until it's over. Until they are here and we embrace them and are with them, we will not stop."
Yahbas also noted that "even when Shiri and the children are here, it won't be some happy ending, it will be only the beginning of the journey. I will share my personal fear with you - that I say, 'Okay, they are coming home now, how will they return to us? What will it look like? How will the first days be? How will it be later on?' They will not come back the same people who we know - there will be a lot of things and hurt that will need to be fixed, and I just hope we will succeed in fixing it. The fact that they will come here is just the start of our journey, because the path to rehabilitation is long, and I can only hope that the State will know to support it and help it, because there will be a real need for significant rehabilitation here."