The Unfinished Goodbye: Suicide Risk Among Israel's Released Hostage Families

For most of the world, the day hostages returned to Israel was a moment of national relief — flags waving, tears streaming, prayers answered. But behind those scenes of jubilation were homes where silence replaced celebration.

Some hostages came back changed in ways their loved ones could not have imagined. Some families still wait for those who never returned. And for many, the reunion itself was not the end of trauma — it was the beginning of another kind of torment: trying to live again after living through the unthinkable.

Mental Health First Aid Israel calls this hidden struggle the unfinished goodbye — the psychological state where families cannot fully rejoice or grieve, trapped between gratitude and despair. Within this liminal space, suicide risk quietly rises.