Hostage survivor Alon Ohel returned to his home in the settlement of Lavon in the Upper Galilee and spoke to the crowd that came to welcome him: "I want to say a huge, enormous thank you to all of you for supporting my family. It's really not something to take for granted. I was deep underground, I couldn't hear, but when I got out they told me amazing things and I want to say that all this love reached 50 meters underground in Gaza, I felt it every single moment." He added: "This is not an easy situation for the family, and we are strong. Moving only forward, looking only upward. Everyone together, unity."