In the routine of things, we’re amidst another round of escalated hopes of a deal to return the hostages. Because of occasionally mentioning my friend Efrat’s uncle, Gadi Mozes, among the elderly hostages, I almost wanted to write an interim blog or at least send an email to a few friends abroad who periodically ask if there is any news about him. I wanted to write and say Uncle Gadi is on the list. I wanted to say Keith Siegel is on the list. They were on the list that was floated around early last week. The list of hostages to be released – whether alive or not.

Then it was said that this list was identical to the list that circulated in July. The source – whether the party that generated the list or the party that circulated it, and whether they are one and the same – leaves us with the same hope, despair, and undying hope. For society stressful, but for family – children and partners, siblings and parents – taut nerves stretched by repeated frustration, disappointment, rekindled hope of immediacy. One family member of a hostage said to the media that the public society begins to be deluded with hope when two weeks is termed immediate, after 15 months, but for each of the remaining live hostages, every hour, every moment is a living hell.

Politicians and commentators, not all necessarily heartless, weigh delay of the process until after the US presidential inauguration to serve a greater interest. Or if the delay is inevitable, some public conjectures project the incoming US president will wave his magic wand, by fear or by sanctions, and bring about the immediate release of the hostages. Not a politician or a commentator, I hope it happens sooner, and if not, I hope the next US president has that power. Whether he does or not, regardless of his........

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