the first three freed hostages arrived in Israel

ISRAEL – They are now free. The three Israeli hostages whose release was scheduled for this Sunday, January 19, on the first day of the ceasefire in Gaza, were handed over to Red Cross teams in Gaza City, Hamas and Israel announced. “The three hostages were officially handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Saraya Square, in the al-Rimal neighborhood in western Gaza City, after a member of the teams of the ICRC met them and checked on their condition.declared an official of the Palestinian movement cited by AFP.

Shortly after, the Israeli army said it had recovered these first three Israeli hostages, who were then able to return to their country. “The freed hostages crossed the border on their way to a meeting point in southern Israel”wrote the IDF in a statement.

According to the Hostage Families Forum, these are British-Israeli Emily Damari (28 years old) and Romanian-Israeli Doron Steinbrecher (31 years old), captured on kibbutz Kfar Aza, and Romi Gonen ( 24 years old), kidnapped at the Nova music festival, during the attack carried out by Hamas on October 7, 2023 in southern Israel.

In Tel Aviv on Hostage Square, relatives and supporters of the hostages celebrated the moment of the announcement of the official release of the three young women, as can be seen in the video below.

Earlier in the day in Gaza, the guns fell silent at 10:15 a.m. (French time), almost three hours behind schedule, Hamas having delayed providing the list of the three Israelis who therefore ended up be released.

Announced on Wednesday by the mediators – Qatar, United States, Egypt – the agreement ultimately aims, according to Doha, to lead to “final end” of the war, triggered by the attack of October 7. But Benjamin Netanyahu warned that it was “a provisional ceasefire” and reserved “the right to resume the war if necessary”.

Three hostage reception points installed

Under the terms of the agreement, hostilities must cease and 33 Israeli hostages must be released, in an initial phase of six weeks. Three hostage reception points have been set up on Israel’s border with Gaza, according to a military official.

In exchange, Israeli authorities said they would release some 1,900 Palestinians within this deadline, 90 of whom should be released on Sunday, according to Hamas, which said it was awaiting the list. ” shortly “. Two Franco-Israelis, Ofer Kalderon, 54, and Ohad Yahalomi, 50, are among the 33 hostages who can be released, according to Paris.

According to US President Joe Biden, the first phase of the agreement also includes an Israeli withdrawal from densely populated areas in Gaza and an increase in humanitarian aid in the territory threatened by famine according to the UN.

According to Egypt, the agreement provides “the entry of 600 aid trucks per day”. “260 aid trucks and 16 fuel trucks” have entered through the Kerem Shalom crossings between Israel and Gaza and Nitzana on the Egypt-Israel border since the truce, an Egyptian official said.

During the first phase, the modalities of the second will be negotiated, which should allow the release of the last hostages, before the third and final stage devoted to the reconstruction of Gaza and the restitution of the bodies of hostages who died in captivity.

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