‘He will come back’ - Israeli hostage families cling to hope, and demand a deal

Rachel Goldberg-Polin now lives by a new calendar - not weeks, or months, but days of absence and anguish. She writes a number on a piece of tape and sticks it to her clothing. It#39;s the number of days since her son Hersh was taken hostage by Hamas. The last image of the 23-year-old is in a Hamas video.

He is being loaded on to a pickup truck, surrounded by gunmen. His left arm has been blown off. The Hamas attacks killed around 1,200 Israelis, most of them civilians. Since then, Israel has bombed Gaza relentlessly.

Rachel - a mother of three - is small and slight but she is a powerhouse. Campaigning is now her full-time job. She hasn#39;t been back to work since the day of the attacks. Neither has her husband Jon.

But five months on, the focus on the hostages is fading. Hopes were raised of a deal to get the hostages back before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. A bleak Ramadan has come, without a breakthrough. But talks on a possible agreement are due to resume in Doha in the next day or so.

Rachel says she is always worried, scared, and doubtful. Experts say it#39;s not just hostage families who are trapped in an anguishing wait. 105 hostages who were freed in November during a week-long truce, leaving others behind. Professor Ofrit Shapira-Berman, a veteran psychoanalyst, and specialist in treating complex trauma.

All were psychologically abused, she says, but not all were physically abused. They were all given a very little amount of food, almost on the edge of starvation, very little water and sometimes water which was dirty. Some of the women are still being sexually abused, says the doctor. She warns that healing will be more difficult for those who were physically abused or came back to discover loved ones had been slaughtered and their home destroyed.

At least some of them will be able to love and to trust someone, she says, but it may take years. For those who remain in Gaza, five months on, recovery is far less certain, she tells us. Hamas says Itai Svirsky was killed by his guard - after an IDF air strike nearby. The army has denied Hamas claims that Itai was killed in the air strike, though it admits another hostage held with him probably was.

Itai’s cousin, Naama Weinberg: “It#39;s devastating. The disappointment is unimaginable” Naama is pained by what Itai went through in his final months - witnessing the killing of his mother, Orit, and then languishing in captivity. 34;I am worried about the nature of humankind to accept situations. I am disappointed from Israeli society,’ she says.

Protesters gather outside Israel#39;s defence ministry in Tel Aviv. Most carry posters with photos of sons, or daughters, or parents they have not seen or held since 7 October. Signs read #34;Deal refusal = Hostages#38; death sentence. Hersh Goldberg-Polin was taken from the music festival like many others.