TRANSCRIPT:
It was a sleepless night for Mona and her husband Khalil.
They had stayed up watching rolling coverage from the Middle East, searching for the face of their 22-year-old nephew Ibrahim.
"We sit as a family, also our friends here, my brother. Every time they said, this is Ibrahim, this is Ibrahim. We couldn't see Ibrahim. I tried to call them and they told me that the bus still hasn't arrived yet."
Ibrahim had been detained by the Israeli military for close to two years after he was arrested and taken from his home in Gaza to prison in December 2023.
The family says he is among many Palestinians that were held without charge over the course of the war.
At 2:30 in the morning, finally the news his uncle Khalil and the others had been waiting for arrived.
"It was an overwhelming joy, praise be to God. We celebrated and we bought sweets, which are baklava and knafeh, in celebration of Ibrahim's release from prison."
While Ibrahim is home safe to his loved ones in Gaza, their house in Deir al-Balah was destroyed in the war and the family is now living in a tent for the foreseeable future.
He is among nearly 2,000 Palestinians who have been freed from Israeli detention as part of a ceasefire exchange, with about 1,700 of these men, women and children heading home to Gaza.
It wasn't long after his release that the family in Australia was able to video call their nephew.
Mona Kaskeen says she almost didn't recognise him after nearly two years locked in detention.
"First impression, I didn't realise it was Ibrahim. He lost weight, too much. He lost his teeth. My son, he just slept for five minutes so I woke him because he asked to see him. He was sleepy and he didn't realise he was talking to him."
In Melbourne's east, the Jewish community has followed live coverage of the events in Israel closely, as news that the last 20 surviving Israeli hostages in Gaza had been set free.
A community which has held vigils for two years, calling for the return of these hostages who were taken in Hamas's October 7 attack, can finally celebrate.
The festivities also lined up with the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah.
Melbourne Jewish community member Justine Pearl told SBS Hebrew about her elation.
"Simchat Torah is this festival of dance where people dance with the Torah and celebrate it being given to us… It's been hard to be joyful in two years, so finally, there were so many tears of joy, and dancing, so it was all of things, all at once."
Naomi Levin, from the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, says she believes this step signals the beginning of a new era of peace.
"We've had two years of waiting, two years of praying, two years of having our hearts really on hold, while we've been waiting for all the hostages to come home. But maybe after today with the release of the hostages, it's time for a new era and time for a new era of peace."
As Israel's national anthem played, the community also reflected on the loss, and the internal tensions and increase in antisemitism wrought by the conflict.
Ilan Rimer, CEO of Zionism Victoria, says it's been a difficult period to say the least.
"The last couple of years have probably been the most difficult two years for the Jewish community in Australia since WW2. It's no exaggeration to say the Jewish community is really looking forward to better times in Australia."
Those hopes for a new chapter are shared by the Palestinian community - Khalil Kaskeen says they welcome the fragile peace.
"God willing, it will be a real beginning for a comprehensive and lasting peace and the beginning of reconstruction and settling the people."
