The first three hostages freed from Gaza have been handed over to Israeli forces, the military announced Sunday, hours after a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Israeli media carried live footage from Qatar-based Al Jazeera showing the hostages walking towards Red Cross vehicles as their convoy passed through Gaza City. The vehicles were flanked by armed men wearing green Hamas headbands and struggling to protect the vehicles from the unruly crowd, which had grown to thousands.
Meanwhile in Tel Aviv, thousands gathered to watch the news on big screens erupted with joy. For months, many people gathered in the square to demand a cease-fire agreement.
The deal marked the beginning of an initial six-week period of calm and the release of dozens of hostages held by the militants and a 15-month-long siege. Which raises hopes of an end to the war. A last-minute delay by Hamas delayed the start of the ceasefire by nearly three hours and highlighted its fragility.
Even before the ceasefire came into effect, celebrations broke out across the region and some Palestinians returned to their homes. Israel had earlier announced the names of the first three hostages to be released in exchange for the planned release of 90 Palestinian prisoners late Sunday.
The ceasefire, which began at 11:15 a.m. local time, is the first step toward an eventual end to the conflict and the return of about 100 hostages kidnapped in the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas.
An Israeli official confirmed that Romi Gonen, 24, Emily Damari, 28, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, were the hostages to be released on Sunday. Gonen was abducted from the Nova Music Festival, while the others were abducted from Kibbutz Kfar Uzza. Damari is an Israeli-British dual citizen.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to comply with regulations, said the families had approved the publication of the names.
At 8:30 a.m. and during the ceasefire, at least 26 people were killed by Israeli fire, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It did not say whether they were civilians or combatants. The army 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 leaving the government in protest at the ceasefire deal. Itamar Ben-Gvir's departure weakens Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition but will not affect the ceasefire.
In a separate development, Israel announced that it had recovered the body of Oron Shaal, a soldier killed in the 2014 Israel-Hamas war, in a special operation in Gaza. The bodies of Shaul and another soldier, Hadar Golden, remained there after the 2014 war and were not returned.
Fragile contract
The ceasefire agreement was announced last week after a year of mediation by the US, Qatar and Egypt. Both the outgoing Biden administration and President-elect Donald Trump's team had pushed for a deal ahead of Monday's inauguration.
Netanyahu warned on Saturday that he had Trump's support to continue fighting if necessary.
The 42-day first phase of the ceasefire should see the return of 33 hostages from Gaza and the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Many displaced Palestinians should be able to return home.
Humanitarian aid is expected to increase, with hundreds of trucks entering Gaza every day, far more than Israel has previously allowed. The United Nations World Food Program said that after the ceasefire, trucks began entering through two crossings.
It is only the second ceasefire in the war, longer and more productive than the one-week truce in November 2023, that has the potential to end the good fight.
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Talks on a more difficult second phase of the ceasefire should begin in just two weeks. Important questions remain, including whether the war will resume after the first phase and how the remaining hostages in Gaza will be freed.
Despite the delay, Palestinians are celebrating.
In the Gaza Strip, celebrations began as people hoped for respite after the fighting killed tens of thousands of people, devastated large swathes of the territory and displaced much of its population.
According to Associated Press correspondents in Gaza, masked militants appeared at some events, where crowds chanted in support of them. Hamas-run police began deploying to the public after being mostly delayed by Israeli airstrikes.
Some families left for home on foot, their belongings loaded onto donkey carts.
Residents returned to see widespread destruction in the southern city of Rafah. Some have found human remains, including skulls, in the debris.
“It's like you're watching a Hollywood horror movie,” resident Mohammad Abu Taha told the AP as he surveyed the ruins of his family's home.
Israeli split on cease-fire agreement
People in Israel were divided over the deal.
Asher Pizm, 35, from the town of Sderot near Gaza, said he was anxiously awaiting the return of the hostages, but said the deal merely postponed the next confrontation with Hamas. He also criticized Israel for allowing aid to Gaza, saying it would help revive the militant group.
“They will take time and strike again,” he said from a small hill in southern Israel, overlooking the smoldering ruins of Gaza with other Israelis gathered there.
Israel's cabinet approved the ceasefire early Saturday in an extraordinary session during the Jewish Sabbath, more than two days after mediators announced the deal.
Immense tool
The toll of the war has been enormous, and new details about its scope will now emerge. Ahmed al-Sufi, head of the Rafah municipality in Gaza, said that the Israeli army destroyed thousands of homes and a large part of the infrastructure. This includes water, electricity and road networks.
More than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza's health ministry, which says more than half of the casualties are women and children but does not distinguish between civilians and fighters.
A Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that sparked the war killed more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and the militants kidnapped about 250 others. More than 100 hostages were released during a week-long ceasefire in November 2023.
90% of the population of Gaza has been displaced. The United Nations says homes, health systems, road networks and other critical infrastructure have been badly damaged. Reconstruction – if the ceasefire reaches its final stage – will take at least several years. Important questions about Gaza's future, political and otherwise, remain unresolved.
Here's a look at the three hostages released on Sunday:
Romi Gonen, 24
This undated photo provided by the Hostage Family Forum shows Israeli hostage Rumi Gonen, who is being held captive by Hamas militants in Gaza. (Hostage Family Forum via AP) Uncredited.
Romi Gonen was abducted from the Nova Music Festival in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. That morning, Gonon's mother, Miro, and her older daughter spent nearly five hours talking to Gonon as militants stormed the festival grounds. Goonan told her family that the roads full of abandoned cars made it impossible to escape and that she would take shelter in some bushes.
Then he said the words that echoed in his mother's head every day. “Mom, I was shot, the car was shot, everyone was shot. … I'm injured and I'm bleeding. Mom, I think I'm going to die,” she said a few weeks after the kidnapping. Later in a press conference, Rumi was heard saying this.
At a loss of what to do, Meru Gonon tries to convince his daughter that she is not going to die, to start breathing and to treat her injured friends. According to Mero, Gonon's last words during the call were “Mom!” There was a scream. As they approached, the gunshots and the screams of the men drowned out everything.
Then the phone went off. Israeli authorities pinpointed the location of his phone in Gaza.
Over the past 15 months, Mero has been one of the most outspoken voices advocating for the return of the hostages, appearing almost daily on Israeli news programs and traveling abroad on missions.
“We're doing everything we can so the world doesn't forget,” Miro told The Associated Press on the six-month anniversary of the Hamas attack. “Every day we wake up and take a big breath, a deep breath, and keep going, keep doing the things that will bring him back.”
Emily Dumari, 28
This undated photo provided by the Hostage Family Forum shows Israeli hostage Emily Damari, who was killed by Hamas militants in Gaza. The likes have imprisoned. (Hostage Family Forum via AP) Uncredited.
Emily Damari is a British Israeli citizen who was kidnapped from her apartment in Kibbutz Kfar Azza, a communal farming village hit hard by the Hamas attack. She lived in a small apartment in a neighborhood for young adults, the closest part of the kibbutz to Gaza. Militants broke the border fence of the kibbutz and ransacked the neighborhood.
Damari's mother Mindy said she likes music, travel, soccer, good food, karaoke and hats. Kibbutz Kfar Uzza said that Damari was often “the glue that held her close friend group together” and that she always organized gatherings of friends around the best barbecue corner in all of the kibbutz.
“I'm holding on to that sliver of hope that I still have in my heart that he's alive despite his pain,” Mindy Damari said last January in front of Damari's burned-out apartment. “I'm disappointed, angry and scared for his life.”
Doron Steinbrecker, 31
This undated photo provided by the Hostage Family Forum shows Israeli hostage Doron Steinbrecher, who is being held captive by Hamas militants in Gaza. (Hostage Family Forum via AP) Uncredited.
Doron Steinbrecher is a veterinary nurse who loves animals, and Damari's neighbor at Kibbutz Kfar Aza.
On October 7, 2023 at 10:20 a.m., Steinbrecher called his mother. “Mom, I'm scared. I'm hiding under the bed and I hear them trying to get into my apartment,” recalled her brother Dorr. She was able to send voice messages to her friends. “They've got me! They've got me! They've got me!” In the moments of his abduction.
This message was key to his family realizing that Duron had been kidnapped.
Steinbrecker was shown along with two other female Israeli soldiers in a video released by Hamas on January 26, 2024. Her brother said the video gave him hope that she was alive but raised concerns because she looked tired, weak and restless.
In total, the militants killed 64 people and 22 soldiers, and kidnapped 19 people from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7. After the return of Steinbrecher and Damari, three members of the kibbutz are still imprisoned in Gaza: American-Israeli Keith Segal, 65; , and twins Gali and Zev Berman, 27.
With files from Melanie Ludman