Israel developed detailed plans for medical care and psychological support in readiness for the release of hostages from Gaza, drawing on lessons learned from Holocaust survivors.
Returning home after being held hostage is "often not the end of your journey", said support group Hostage International. Instead a "new period of recovery and reintegration" begins, a process that can take years.
Six hospitals are ready to receive the Gaza hostages, according to Israeli government officials. Staff will "try to limit the number of people who interact with them", said The Times of Israel, and they'll "lessen their sensory stimulation" by "stripping down the hospital rooms" and altering the lighting.
An immediate challenge when hostages are released is known as "refeeding syndrome", when exposure to certain foods or too much food can cause major health issues or even death, said Dr Hagar Mizrahi of the Ministry of Health.
The "negative or confusing emotions" that former hostages can feel include "survivor's guilt" if you were "held with others who were not released", a feeling of "empathy towards some of those who had held you captive" and "still feeling captive when looked after by authorities or when you return home", added Hostage International.
For the released Israelis, the society they are being reintroduced to could also represent a new challenge. There's been a "searing political division" in Israel that, "like everything else about this war", has "gotten ugly", said Haaretz, with some Israelis wanting to prioritise the safe return of hostages and others wanting to sacrifice them and simply "smash Hamas". So the hostages are released into a society in which their plight has become an "intractable schism". | 
