Three female hostages freed by Hamas were reunited with their mothers inside Israel.
Armed Hamas fighters drove through the southern city of Khan Younis with crowds cheering and chanting. In the north of the territory, bombed into oblivion in the war’s most intense fighting, people picked their way on narrow roads through a devastated landscape of rubble and twisted metal.
“I feel like at last I found some water to drink after being lost in the desert for 15 months,” Aya, a displaced woman from Gaza City who has been sheltering in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip for over a year, said after the fighting stopped. “I feel alive again.”
In Tel Aviv, hundreds of Israelis in a square outside the defence headquarters watched a live broadcast from Gaza showing the hostage release on a giant screen. The crowd cheered, embraced and wept as three female hostages could be seen getting into a Red Cross vehicle surrounded by armed Hamas fighters.
Soon after, the Israeli military said Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari had been reunited with their mothers at a meeting point inside Israel, close to the kibbutz and nearby music festival where they had been abducted in the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas raid that precipitated the war.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, buses were awaiting the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli detention. Hamas said the first group to be freed in exchange for the hostages includes 69 women and 21 teenage boys.
The first phase of the truce in the 15-month-old war between Israel and Hamas took effect following a three-hour delay during which Israeli warplanes and artillery pounded the Gaza Strip.
That last-minute Israeli blitz killed 13 people, according to Palestinian health authorities. Israel blamed Hamas for being late to deliver the names of hostages it would free, and said it had struck terrorists. Hamas said the holdup in providing the list was a technical glitch.
“Today the guns in Gaza have gone silent,” U.S. President Joe Biden said on his last full day in office, welcoming a truce that had eluded U.S. diplomacy for more than a year.
“The road to this deal has been not easy at all, it was a long road,” Biden said. “But we’ve reached this point today because of the pressure Israel built on Hamas, backed by the United States.”
The truce calls for fighting to stop, aid to be sent in to Gaza and 33 of the 98 Israeli and foreign hostages still held there to go free over the six-week first phase in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
For Hamas, the truce could provide an opportunity to emerge from the shadows after 15 months in hiding. Hamas policemen dressed in blue police uniform swiftly deployed in some areas.
People who had gathered to cheer the fighters chanted “Greetings to Al-Qassam Brigades”, the group’s armed wing.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer hailed Hamas’s release of three hostages, including British citizen Emily Damari.
In a statement on Sunday, Starmer said, “The release of three hostages today is wonderful and long-overdue news after months of agony for them and their families. Among them is British citizen Emily Damari, who will now be reunited with her family, including her mother Amanda who has never stopped her tireless fight to bring her daughter home.
“I wish them all the very best as they begin the road to recovery after the intolerable trauma they have experienced. We stand ready to offer assistance and support.
“However, today also represents another day of suffering for those who haven’t made it home yet – so while this ceasefire deal should be welcomed, we must not forget about those who remain in captivity under Hamas.
We must now see the remaining phases of the ceasefire deal implemented in full and on schedule, including the release of those remaining hostages and a surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza. The UK stands ready to do everything it can to support a permanent and peaceful solution.”
UN Women released a statement in response to the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, calling it news that “brings relief for the one million women and children” in Gaza who have been subjected to Israeli attacks over the last 15 months.
The UN said, “UN Women welcomes the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, including the hostage release deal, which went into effect today.
“We join the Secretary-General in expressing hope that all parties will honour their commitments to ensure this agreement paves the way for a lasting peace for women and girls in Palestine, Israel, and the region. The news of the ceasefire brings relief for the one million women and girls who have lived under continued bombardment, without safety in Gaza for the last 470 days. The news of the initial release of hostages brings immense relief to them and their families. The ceasefire agreement marks a crucial step towards stability and peace.”
