The families of hostages held in Gaza have faced a 20-month-long nightmare. As they try to advocate for their loved ones’ fates, they have been confronted with the whims of Israeli and Hamas leaders and the other crises that have engulfed the Middle East.

After twelve days of intense strikes between Israel and Iran – punctuated by the United States’ bombing of Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend and Tehran’s performative retaliation – a US-brokered ceasefire appeared to be holding on Tuesday.

But the war between Israel and Iran, and the U.S.-brokered ceasefire that halted 12 days of fighting, have sparked fresh hope that his brothers, Gali and Ziv, may finally return home.