Three Israeli hostages arrive in Israel as fragile ceasefire passes first hurdle
Relatives and friends of people killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, react as they gather in Tel Aviv, Israel on Sunday. Picture: AP Photo/Oded Balilty.
The first three hostages released from Gaza have arrived in Israel, hours after the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took hold.
Their mothers were waiting to meet them.
Israeli media, carrying live footage from Qatar-based Al Jazeera, showed the three women 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.
No further glimpses of the three were immediately expected as they will be taken for medical assessment.
“They appear to be in good health,” US president Joe Biden said in brief remarks as they were arriving in Israel.
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.
Relatives of the women jumped, clapped and wept.
“An entire nation embraces you,” Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
The ceasefire 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, but the spokesman for Hamas’s military wing later said it is committed to the ceasefire.
Even before the ceasefire took effect, celebrations broke out across the territory and some Palestinians began returning to their homes.
Next up is the release of 90 Palestinian prisoners later on Sunday.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, families and friends gathered excitedly as cars honked and people waved the Palestinian flag.
The truce, which started at 11.15am local time, is the first step towards ultimately ending the conflict and returning nearly 100 hostages abducted in Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack.
Romi Gonen, 24, Emily Damari, 28, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, were released.
Ms Gonen was abducted from the Nova music festival, while the others were kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Aza.
Ms Damari is an Israeli-British dual citizen.
In the interim between 8.30am 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 Mr Shaul and another soldier, Hadar Goldin, remained there after the 2014 war and had not been returned.
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.
Mr Netanyahu on Saturday warned that he had Mr 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 Programme 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 week-long pause in November 2023, with the potential to end the fighting for good.
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.
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