Three young women were released by Hamas after the ceasefire came into force on Sunday in the Gaza Strip. Many displaced Palestinians have returned home, finding lands devastated by the war.
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Three hostages released on Sunday by Hamas were reunited with their families in Israel, on the first day of the ceasefire between the Israeli army and the Palestinian Islamist movement in the Gaza Strip devastated by more than 15 months of war.
Thousands of displaced Palestinians took to the road in the middle of an apocalyptic landscape to return home when the guns fell silent at 9:15 a.m. GMT (10:15 a.m. in Switzerland). “We couldn’t even find the exact location of our houses” because of “the scale of the destruction,” lamented Maria Gad El Haq in Rafah (south).
The truce, which comes on the eve of Donald Trump’s return to the White House, came into force almost three hours late, Hamas having delayed providing the list of three Israeli hostages to be released during the day in exchange of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Moving reunion
“The three hostages were officially handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross” in Gaza City (north), a Hamas leader told AFP late in the afternoon. Shortly after, the Israeli army said they were “en route to a meeting point in southern Israel.”
They are the British-Israeli Emily Damari (28 years old) and the Romanian-Israeli Doron Steinbrecher (31), both captured at Kibbutz Kfar Aza, as well as Romi Gonen (24), kidnapped at the festival of Nova music, during the attack carried out by Hamas on October 7, 2023 in Israel which sparked the war in Gaza.
Ex-hostage Romi Gonen found his mother’s arms again.Image: AP
“It’s a moment of great emotion,” said Daniel Hagari, army spokesperson, adding that “between three and four kidnapped women” would be “released each week.” A senior Hamas official then told AFP that the next release would take place “next Saturday”.
The entry into force of the agreement nourishes the hope of a lasting peace in the Palestinian territory, even if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel reserved “the right to resume the war if necessary”.
Doron Steinbrecher also reunited with her mother.Image: AP
Hamas’ military wing said the truce depended on Israel “compliance with commitments.”
A few minutes after the ceasefire came into force, which also provides for an increase in humanitarian aid to Gaza, the UN announced the arrival of the first aid trucks.
“Definitive end” of the war?
In Gaza, some made the “V” for victory. But in Jabalia (north), the epicenter of an intense Israeli offensive, there is “nothing left,” laments Walid Abou Jiab, who is one of the 2.4 million Palestinians, the majority of whom have been displaced by the war.
Between the scheduled start of the truce and its entry into force, Israel carried out strikes in Gaza that killed eight Palestinians, according to local Civil Defense. Hamas justified its delay in handing over the list of hostages by “complications on the ground and the continuation of the bombings”.
Announced on Wednesday by the mediators – Qatar, United States, Egypt – the agreement ultimately aims, according to Doha, to lead to the “definitive end” of the war. US President Joe Biden welcomed the ceasefire “after so much pain”.
-Under the terms of the agreement, hostilities must cease and 33 Israeli hostages must be released in an initial phase of six weeks. In exchange, the 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 waiting for the list.
Meanwhile, dozens of Palestinians waving Hamas flags gathered outside the Israeli Ofer prison in the occupied West Bank.
“In stable condition”
The ex-hostages have “gone through hell” and are emerging “from darkness into light” after 471 days of captivity, Netanyahu responded.
Gathered in an undisclosed location, their families screamed, jumped for joy and cried as they saw their loved ones return to Israel, according to army footage.
The mothers of the three women were then reunited with their daughters. The Army released a photo of Emily Damari, smiling and posing with her mother Mandy, who had a bandaged hand.
Emily Damari and her mother on a call with their family.Image: AP Israeli Army
They were then transferred to Sheba Hospital near Tel Aviv, which said they were “in stable condition”.
“Seeing the hostages reunited with their families fills our hearts with hope,” commented the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on X.
On “Hostages Square” in Tel Aviv, thousands of people welcomed their return with tears, songs, applause and hugs: “It’s a feeling we haven’t felt for over a year,” confided to AFPTV Roni Tarnovyski, 23, a friend of Emily Damari, who said she was “upset”.
“Security obstacles”
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres declared that it was “imperative” that the ceasefire “removes the significant security and political obstacles to the delivery of aid”.
According to Egypt, the agreement provides for “the entry of 600 aid trucks per day”. According to an Egyptian official, “260 trucks of aid and 16 of fuel” had entered by the end of the day on Sunday. “We are trying to reach a million people as quickly as possible,” Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the World Food Program, told AFP.
During the first phase of the truce, the modalities of the second will be negotiated, which should allow the release of the last hostages, before the last stage relating to the reconstruction of Gaza and the restitution of the bodies of the hostages who died in captivity.
According to Joe Biden, the first phase also includes an Israeli withdrawal from densely populated areas in Gaza.
More information on the situation between Israel and Hamas in Gaza
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