Eitan Gonen, father of Romi who was released from Hamas captivity after 471 days, recounted, in an interview with Kan Reshet Bet, the emotional moments when he received the news of her release, and his meeting with his daughter.

"Romi is amazing. We met a mature, incredible woman who shocked us all. We keep on looking at each other at home and saying said 'Wow, she is amazing.' Many people have said to us ‘Do you believe it?, you said Romi would return alive.’ The first sentence she said to me was 'Dad, I came back alive.' To hear her, to touch her, to hug her, to kiss her, and of course, for her to finally ask me 'How are you, my beloved father.' She was worried about me," Gonen recalled emotionally.

He shared, "We received the long-awaited phone call that we had been waiting to get for 471 days. The officer said what we had been waiting to hear for 11,310 hours. The tears, the crying, the incredible excitement ... and the screams in the car. I drove north to the designated meeting place, and we all had goosebumps."

He spoke about Romi's rehabilitation process. "We are taking this slowly, we are doing this safely. We do not want to overwhelm her. We have our whole lives ahead of us. This is just like a birth. Our daughter has been born again."

Gonen called on the families of the hostages to continue to speak to the media. "Do not stop for a moment. I remember that there were days when I was interviewed eight, ten times a day for all the networks. Whether it was radio, television or social media, the messages reached her. It was enough to hear her say to me 'Dad, I came back alive,' to understand that she heard me, that I gave her a lot of strength, energy, a lot of hope. Even if the hostages hear only ten percent of the interviews, it is enough to give them strength. It holds them up, it gives them a little more strength and air in their lungs to endure this hell they are living in."