The first three hostages set to be released from Gaza were transferred to Israeli forces, the military announced Sunday, hours after the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took hold.
Israeli media, carrying live footage from Qatar-based Al Jazeera, showed the hostages walking to Red Cross vehicles as their convoy moved through Gaza City. The vehicles were accompanied by armed men who wore green Hamas headbands and struggled to guard the cars from an unruly crowd that swelled into the thousands.
Meanwhile, in Tel Aviv, thousands of people gathered to watch the news on large screens erupted in cheers. For months, many had gathered in the square to demand a ceasefire deal.
The deal ushers in an initial six-week period of calm and raises hopes for the release of dozens of militant-held hostages and an end to the devastating 15-month war. A last-minute delay by Hamas put off the truce’s start by nearly three hours and highlighted its fragility.
Even before the ceasefire took effect, celebrations broke out across the territory and some Palestinians began returning to their homes. Israel earlier announced the names of the first three hostages to be freed in exchange for the planned release of 90 Palestinian prisoners later Sunday.
The truce, which started at 11:15 a.m. local time, is the first step toward ultimately ending the conflict and returning nearly 100 hostages abducted in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack.
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An Israeli official confirmed that Romi Gonen, 24, Emily Damari, 28, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, were the hostages being released Sunday. Gonen was abducted from the Nova music festival, while the others were kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Damari is an Israeli-British dual citizen.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said the families had approved the publication of the names.
In the interim between 8:30 a.m. and when the ceasefire took hold, Israeli fire killed at least 26 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It did not say whether they were civilians or fighters. The military has warned people to stay away from Israeli forces as they retreat to a buffer zone inside Gaza.
Israel’s hard-line national security minister, meanwhile, said his Jewish Power faction was quitting the government in protest over the ceasefire agreement. Itamar Ben-Gvir’s departure weakens Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition but will not affect the truce.
In a separate development, Israel announced it had recovered the body of Oron Shaul, a soldier killed in the 2014 Israel-Hamas war, in a special operation in Gaza. The bodies of Shaul and another soldier, Hadar Goldin, remained there after the 2014 war and had not been returned.
Fragile agreement
The ceasefire deal was announced last week after a year of mediation by the United States, Qatar and Egypt. The outgoing Biden administration and President-elect Donald Trump’s team had both pressed for an agreement to be reached before the inauguration on Monday.
Netanyahu on Saturday warned that he had Trump’s backing to continue fighting if necessary.
The 42-day first phase of the ceasefire should see 33 hostages returned from Gaza and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees released. Many displaced Palestinians should be able to return home.
There is also supposed to be a surge of humanitarian aid, with hundreds of trucks entering Gaza daily, far more than Israel allowed before. The United Nations’ World Food Program said trucks started entering through two crossings after the ceasefire took hold.
This is just the second ceasefire in the war, longer and more consequential than a weeklong pause in November 2023, with the potential to end the fighting for good.
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Negotiations on the far more difficult second phase of this ceasefire should begin in just over two weeks. Major questions remain, including whether the war will resume after the first phase and how the rest of the hostages in Gaza will be freed.
Palestinians celebrate despite delay
Across the Gaza Strip, celebrations erupted as people hoped for respite after the fighting killed tens of thousands, destroyed large areas of the territory and displaced most of its population.
Masked militants appeared at some celebrations, where crowds chanted slogans in support of them, according to Associated Press reporters in Gaza. The Hamas-run police began deploying in public after mostly lying low due to Israeli airstrikes.
Some families set off for home on foot, their belongings loaded on donkey carts.
In the southern city of Rafah, residents returned to find massive destruction. Some found human remains including skulls in the rubble.
“It’s like you see a Hollywood horror movie,” resident Mohamed Abu Taha told the AP as he inspected the ruins of his family’s home.
Israelis divided over ceasefire deal
In Israel, people remained divided over the agreement.
Asher Pizem, 35, from the city of Sderot near Gaza, said he eagerly awaited the hostages’ return but said the deal had merely postponed the next confrontation with Hamas. He also criticized Israel for allowing aid into Gaza, saying it would contribute to the militant group’s revival.
“They will take the time and attack again,” he said while overlooking Gaza’s smoldering ruins from a small hill in southern Israel with other Israelis who gathered there.
Israel’s Cabinet approved the ceasefire early Saturday in a rare session during the Jewish Sabbath, more than two days after mediators announced the deal.
Immense toll
The toll of the war has been immense, and new details on its scope will now emerge. The head of the Rafah municipality in Gaza, Ahmed al-Sufi, said Israel’s military had destroyed a large part of the infrastructure, including water, electricity and road networks, in addition to thousands of homes.
Over 46,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which says women and children make up more than half the fatalities but does not distinguish between civilians and fighters.
The Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that sparked the war killed over 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and militants abducted around 250 others. More than 100 hostages were freed during the weeklong ceasefire in November 2023.
Some 90 per cent of Gaza’s population has been displaced. The United Nations says homes, the health system, road networks and other vital infrastructure have been badly damaged. Rebuilding — if the ceasefire reaches its final phase — will take several years at least. Major questions about Gaza’s future, political and otherwise, remain unresolved.
Here’s a look at the three hostages released Sunday:
Romi Gonen, 24
This undated photo, provided by Hostage’s Family Forum, shows Israeli hostage Romi Gonen, who is being held in Gaza by Hamas militants. (Hostage’s Family Forum via AP)Uncredited.
Romi Gonen was kidnapped from the Nova music festival in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. That morning, Gonen’s mother, Merav, and her eldest daughter spent nearly five hours speaking to Gonen as militants marauded through the festival grounds. Gonen told her family that roads clogged with abandoned cars made escape impossible and that she would seek shelter in some bushes.
Then she said words that continue to echo in her mother’s head every day. “Mommy I was shot, the car was shot, everybody was shot. … I am wounded and bleeding. Mommy, I think I’m going to die,” she recounted Romi as saying, in a press conference a few weeks after the abduction.
At a loss for what to do, Merav Gonen tried to convince her daughter that she wasn’t going to die, to start breathing and treat her wounded friends. According to Merav, Gonen’s last word during the call was a shriek of “Mommy!” as approaching gunfire and the men’s shouts drowned out everything.
Then the phone shut off. Israeli authorities identified her phone’s location in Gaza.
Over the past 15 months, Merav has been one of the most outspoken voices advocating for the return of the hostages, appearing nearly daily on Israeli news programs and traveling abroad on missions.
“We are doing everything we can so the world will not forget,” Merav told The Associated Press on the six-month anniversary of Hamas’ attack. “Every day we wake up and take a big breath, deep breath, and continue walking, continue doing the things that will bring her back.”
Emily Damari, 28
This undated photo, provided by Hostage’s Family Forum, shows Israeli hostage Emily Damari, who is being held in Gaza by Hamas militants. (Hostage’s Family Forum via AP)Uncredited.
Emily Damari is a British-Israeli citizen kidnapped from her apartment on Kibbutz Kfar Aza, a communal farming village hit hard by Hamas’ assault. She lived in a small apartment in a neighborhood for young adults, the closest part of the kibbutz to Gaza. Militants broke through the border fence of the kibbutz and ransacked the neighborhood.
Damari’s mother, Mandy, said she loves music, traveling, soccer, good food, karaoke and hats. Kibbutz Kfar Aza said that Damari was often the “glue that held her close-knit friend group together” and she was always organizing gatherings of friends around the best barbecue corner in the entire kibbutz.
“I hold on to that sliver of hope that I still keep in my heart that she is surviving, in spite of her suffering,” Mandy Damari said in front of Damari’s burned apartment last January. “I am desperate, angry, and terrified for her life.”
Doron Steinbrecher, 31
This undated photo provided by Hostage’s Family Forum shows Israeli hostage Doron Steinbrecher, who is being held in Gaza by Hamas militants. (Hostage’s Family Forum via AP)Uncredited.
Doron Steinbrecher is a veterinary nurse who loves animals, and a neighbor to Damari in Kibbutz Kfar Aza.
At 10:20 on Oct. 7, 2023, Steinbrecher called her mother. “Mom, I’m scared. I’m hiding under the bed and I hear them trying to enter my apartment,” her brother, Dor, recalled. She was able to send a voice message to her friends. “They’ve got me! They’ve got me! They’ve got me!” in the moments of her abduction.
That message was key in helping her family understand that Doron had been kidnapped.
Steinbrecher was featured in a video released by Hamas on Jan. 26, 2024, along with two other female Israeli soldiers. Her brother said the video gave them hope that she was alive but sparked concern because she looked tired, weak, and gaunt.
In total, militants killed 64 people and 22 soldiers, and kidnapped 19 people from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on Oct 7. With the return of Steinbrecher and Damari, there are still three members of the kibbutz held in Gaza: American-Israeli Keith Siegel, 65, and twins Gali and Ziv Berman, 27.
With files from Melanie Lidman