A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
This moment is especially personal for the families who have been waiting two years for their loved ones to come home. One of them is Udi Goren, cousin of Tal Haimi, whose remains are still being held in Gaza.
Udi, so the ceasefire is in effect at the end of today - we just heard Daniel Estrin report that - and Saturday, Hamas starts retrieving hostages. But when you heard for the first time that an agreement had been reached, what was going through your mind and your heart?
UDI GOREN: I think Rotem Cooper, that we've heard earlier, said it right. You know, the first is a sigh of relief because, finally, this is what we've been striving for for these two years, you know, protesting out in the streets, traveling all around the world, speaking to politicians, going here to the Israeli parliament. The demonstrations and the rallies and all we've done led to this very moment. So the first thing is a sign of relief - is a sigh of relief, but then we've got to remember exactly what the correspondents just said. Some of the murdered hostages, they can't be found, or at least Hamas says they can't find them. My cousin is a murdered hostage. And we are here. We, the hostage families, and all the people that support this cause, we are here until the last remaining hostage is back in Israel. We all deserve to have this closure and have them brought back.
MARTÍNEZ: What's your understanding about Tal's remains? Are they not found? Are - do you know if you'll be able to get it somehow?
GOREN: Unfortunately, this is not an information that is disclosed...
MARTÍNEZ: OK.
GOREN: ...To us because as - you know, and it actually makes sense in order to not jeopardize the military and the intel's efforts to retrieve all the bodies. So all we have left is, you know, really aspire for the best. But for me, it really doesn't matter because this struggle is not about Tal. It's about all the hostages that need to be back home.
MARTÍNEZ: What would it mean to you, though, to have his remains back with you?
GOREN: You know, there's a term we've come to learn in these past two years, and it's called delayed grief. You know, when you lose someone, you go through the different phases of grieving. And at first, there's shock. Then there's denial. And then you're supposed to move forward until you come to terms with it, and you can rebuild and move on. And we've just been stuck. We got stuck on October 7. We don't have time to grieve. We don't even have proof that he's dead. And that just keeps all these families stuck in Phase 1, which normally, you know, you have to go see a therapist if you're...
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah.
GOREN: ...Stuck grieving in Phase 1, but the circumstances are such. And all of these families, all of us, we've lost family members. We've lost friends. We've lost people that we knew and never had a time to stop and grieve them. And that is the first thing that needs to happen in order for us to actually move forward.
MARTÍNEZ: If you could for just a minute, can you tell us about your cousin, Tal? Who was he?
GOREN: Absolutely. Tal was kind of a shy person. He's not the first person you would notice when he walked into a room, but he was always the first person people turned to when they needed something fixed or when - you know, he was a civil engineer. He was very good with his hands. When - you know, when people would get IKEA furniture, then he would be the one they would call. And he was also a family man, and he was really a part of his community. He would wake up early to make sandwiches for the kids. He would come back home to spend time with them. And the Haimi clan, they're a big family in the Kibbutz, and they would be together all the time, a lot of times in Tal's home.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, we've been places before where deals come close, and then they wind up falling apart. I know this feels like it's a done deal, but, I mean, are you worried at all that something could happen?
GOREN: It really doesn't feel like a done deal. I...
MARTÍNEZ: OK.
GOREN: It would be a done deal when we would see hostages going into white ambulances in Gaza and driving home to Israel, or in our case, body bags put in white ambulances and driving to Israel. And it's - and you're right. We've been let down before, and we've been let down miserably. And it will only be a done deal when they're all home.
MARTÍNEZ: About 20 seconds, Udi. If you could directly speak to leaders, what would you want them to hear from you?
GOREN: The first thing that needs to happen in order to move forward is bring back all 48 hostages. But after that, what Trump's plan entails is the future for this region. And I have said there's an entire generation that's being traumatized by this war on both sides, and we have to make sure that all the political power and all the will and the vision and the money goes into implementing this...
MARTÍNEZ: OK.
GOREN: ...Plan because we deserve a better future.
MARTÍNEZ: That's Udi Goren, cousin of Tal Haimi, whose remains are still being held in Gaza. Udi, thank you.
GOREN: Thank you.
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