Family in Ardmore hopeful for grandmother's return as Hamas releases hostages amid temporary cease-fire
ARDMORE, Pa. (CBS) -- Some families in our area are anxiously waiting to find out if their loved ones will be among the hostages released by Hamas.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, the sum of those words in this picture is made with love.
"A lot of people maybe recognize their own grandmother or loved one here," Corey Shdaimah said. "There is something that resonates."
In the picture, Amichai Shdaimah's 84-year-old stepmother Ditza Heiman makes her famous chicken soup.
"The kids love it so much, she would make it anytime they come," Amichai Shdaimah said.
But for nearly two months now, Ditza's kitchen has been empty and no soup has been made.
"You can live in a fog, something always in the back of your head that you have no control of," Amichai Shdaimah said. "A quarter of the people [in the] kibbutz they are all murdered or kidnapped or missing."
Heiman is believed to be one of the over 200 hostages currently being held by Hamas, taken from her home in Nir Oz, a kibbutz in southern Israel.
"It's a little like the Holocaust in terms of feelings," Amichai Shdaimah said. "You're worried and you have to keep being optimistic that something good will happen eventually."
Hamas is freeing 50 hostages in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners.
Amichai and his wife Corey are hoping Ditza will be one of them.
"Every person has a story and Ditza has her four children and the 20 grandchildren and the eight great-grandchildren, everyone," Corey Shdaimah said. "Her cat Mia, everyone who is waiting for her to come home."
So for now they wait, the picture of Ditza feeding their weary souls but giving them hope for the future.
"Obviously, it's painful for us that it's not been Ditza, we miss her," Corey Shdaimah said. "We are waiting for her to come, but we're also happy for every person that has been returned to a loved one."
In the meantime they're hoping their beloved "Safta" as well as the smell and taste of her famous chicken soup can come home.
"If she is released or not I think it is important for everybody to know what's going on with their loved ones," Amichai Shdaimah said.
