Israeli mom who offered herself as hostage to see kidnapped daughters is finally reunited with them

An Israeli mother who once offered herself as a hostage to Hamas just for the chance to hold her two daughters has finally been reunited with them after their release, emotional new video shows.

Maayan Zin’s nightmare came to an end Sunday as she tearfully hugged daughters Dafna Elyakim, 15, and Ela Elyakim, 8, for the first time in 51 days after the girls were freed by the terrorist group as part of its cease-fire agreement with Israel.

Touching video captured the moment Zin rushed to her two daughters as she embraced them and wept after weeks of pleading for their safe return.

“My precious daughters were returned to me yesterday, a moment etched forever in my memory,” Zin wrote on X. “Thank you for making it happen.”

Dafna and Ela were among the 17 people released by Hamas on Sunday in exchange for 39 Palestinian prisoners.

The two girls were kidnapped from their father’s house in Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, with the attack on their home streamed on Facebook Live, according to the Times of Israel.

Maayan Zin hugged her two daughters, Dafna Elyakim, 15, and 8-year-old Ela Elyakim after they were released by Hamas on Sunday. X/Maayan Zin
The family embraced for the first time in 51 days. X/Maayan Zin

The Facebook video showed their father, Noam Elyakim, bleeding from a gunshot wound in his leg as Dafna cries beside him. Noam’s body, along with the bodies of his girlfriend Dikla Arava and her son Tomer, were later found near the Gaza border.

Since her daughters’ kidnappings, Zin has been among the most vocal advocates calling on Hamas to release the children taken hostage in Gaza.

The heartbroken mother even made multiple pleas with Hamas, Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu and President Joe Biden to find a way to reunite her family, even if it meant sending her off to the Palestinian enclave as a hostage.

Ela ran as soon as she saw her mother waiting for her. X/Maayan Zin
The 8-year-old cried along with her mother during their reunion. X/Maayan Zin

“If you can’t bring back my girls now, I’m asking you, I’m begging you, take me to them now,” Zin pleaded in an emotional video earlier this month.

“Put me in Gaza. I will be hostage 243. If only I could hold them and tell them everything would be alright. Hug them and tell them that Mom is here — no matter what, Mom is here,” she said.

As of Sunday, Hamas has released 58 hostages, including 40 Israeli citizens and 18 foreign nationals. 

Both sides have since agreed to extend their cease-fire for two days, till Wednesday, mediator Qatar said Monday — hours before the current temporary peace was set to exprire.