SARASOTA, Fla. (WFLA) — Israel received three hostages Saturday in exchange for more than 300 Palestinian detainees as part of a ceasefire deal.

It’s a moment one Sarasota family has been waiting for, for nearly 500 days.

Sagui Dekel-Chen hadn’t been heard from since Hamas perpetrated the worst terrorist attack in Israel’s history on Oct. 7, 2023.

A few days later, his stepmother, Gillian Kaye, told 8 On Your Side that Sagui hadn’t been seen since securing his pregnant wife and two daughters in their home’s safe room.

“Sagui rigged it so that the door was not going to open,” she explained.

But Kaye said Sagui left to warn families of the imminent danger while terrorists shot their way into some of the shelters.

“We know that he was defending his family because it was heard by his wife through the door of the shelter, which is very thick, so it must have been really loud, and that’s the last we heard,” she said.

Fast forward nearly 500 days, after Sagui missed his daughter’s birth and the first year of her life, this is the moment Kaye had been waiting for.

It was a teary-eyed reunion that some worried might never happen.

The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee CEO, Shepard Englander, said he lay awake from Friday night into Saturday morning, fearing the worst.

“Hamas has played a game where they’ll say we’ll release hostages, but we won’t tell you if they’re alive or dead,” he explained. “So I went to bed last night terrified that they wouldn’t be releasing Sagui alive, but that they’d be releasing his body.”

But Englander woke up to a video showing Sagui finally out of captivity and in the arms of loved ones.

“It’s the toughest combination of relief, joy, and rage that anyone would ruin an innocent civilian’s life for their own political ends,” he explained.

Englander told 8 On Your Side he heard from Sagui’s parents, who said they were ‘happy, exhausted, and grateful for all of the love and support.’

Englander said Sagui’s parents remain committed to getting all of the remaining hostages home.