It's been more than 14 months since the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel, killing some 1,200 people, and abducting around 250, including three of Pacifica resident Oren's family members.
"My thought is this is going to happen. We've all been praying for it for almost a year and a half," Oren said.
MORE: Berkeley-born hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin laid to rest in Jerusalem
Berkeley-born hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin laid to rest in Jerusalem
Israel says Hamas is still holding 100 hostages, with over a third of them believed to be dead; one of them is Oren's cousin.
"Sadly Ilan is still a hostage. We know that we want him back and we think he'll come back," Oren said.
"Everyone in the Jewish community has been on edge for more than a year now waiting for our hostages to come home," said Joy Sisisky, CEO, Jewish Community and Federation Endowment Fund. "So the idea of a hostage deal is getting nearer, especially towards the holidays and the end of the year, I think everyone has their fingers and toes crossed."
The deal, according to officials involved in the mediation, would include the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, with 30 Israeli hostages to be released in the first phase, half of whom are believed to be alive.
EXCLUSIVE: Bay Area man with captured family helping keep Hamas hostages in the spotlight
EXCLUSIVE: Bay Area man with captured family helping keep Hamas hostages in the spotlight
"My cousin Ofer was kidnapped with his daughter and son they were actually kidnapped separately in their attempt to flee the children's Sahar and Erez were returned in the very last hostage deal," said Bay Area resident, Pelinor Calderon, who is trying to hold onto hope. "We have to really be careful about what we get excited about and what we get emotional about because the situation is so raw and the emotion is so raw that it makes it very difficult to have any emotion about it."
"I think the best thing we can do is really hope for the best, pray for the best," Sisisky said. "And also make sure we're prepared for a longer fight knowing that we may not get everything we want in the first round of a hostage deal."