INDIANAPOLIS — Mark and Tory Vyvoda were not expecting the news they got Monday.
It's been nearly three weeks since Mark's aunt and uncle, Oded and Yochke Lifschitz, were taken hostage by Hamas in their attack on Israel.
Tory and Mark, who live in Evansville, had little hope, the couple both in their 80s, were even alive.
Monday night, they got news that left them in shock.
That's when they learned Mark's aunt, Yochke, was released, and with one photo, via text to Mark's cellphone, it was all real.
In the photo, you can see Mark's aunt, Yochke, smiling in an Israeli hospital, hours after she was freed.
Yochke was one of two hostages released Monday, after being kidnapped and held by Hamas nearly three weeks ago.
"That picture definitely made it real and not just a news headline," said Mark, who said he had renewed hope that the remaining hostages still in Gaza are alive and could be released too.
"The fact that they have been found is extremely bright for the hostages that haven't been found yet," Mark said.
It's estimated some 200 hostages are still being held by Hamas.
One of them is Yochke's husband, Oded.
"Oded needs medicine for lung disease, and the fact he's still alive three weeks later, without having that, there has to be some type of dignity. There has to be some type of humanity happening, and I can't lose hope on that," said Mark's wife, Tory Schendel-Vyvoda.
The Lifschitzes were founders of the Kibbutz Nir Oz, where 400 people lived before the Hamas attacks. Mark and Tory said 198 of those people are accounted for, but 80 are still missing.
Mark said his aunt and uncle were peace activists and regularly brought Palestinians from Gaza to Israel for medical treatment.
"A lot of what they did was try and better the situation," Mark explained, adding that he doesn't expect that to change, even now, even after going through what he calls physical, emotional and spiritual trauma for the past three weeks.
"Now that Yochke's been returned, she will use that platform. She will use those words. She will say, 'I'm here. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful, but now I'm going to use that position to fight for the dignity, respect and humanity for the children. For the Palestinians. For the Israelis,'" Tory said.
"After their experience, I think their message of peace will be even more immediate and will be even more needed," Mark said.
The idea of peace is still a hope this couple has, even if right now, it may seem like a distant one.
"There's this idea of hope, but what does it really mean in the Middle East?" Mark said.