Day one of the ceasefire and – after a delayed start – the pieces fell into place.
Early in the day, the first displaced residents of Gaza began returning to their homes, many witnessing entire neighbourhoods reduced to rubble. Then, on Sunday evening, three Israeli women hostages returned home after 471 days in Hamas captivity. A short time later, Palestinians prisoners were bussed from Israeli prisons to West Bank crossing points and to Palestinian neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem.
“Who do think it will be?” was the most popular question in Israel ever since it was revealed that the first three hostages were to be released on Sunday.
“Romy, Emily and Doron,” read the WhatsApp messages a few hours before Sunday morning’s official announcement – with many Israeli citizens familiar with the hostages by their first names.
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The three women were taken captive when Hamas gunmen stormed into southern Israel on October 7th, 2023. Romy Gonen (24) was kidnapped from the Nova music festival. Dual British-Israeli Emily Damari (28) and Doron Steinbrecher (31) were taken from their homes in kibbutz Kfar Aza.
They were released by Hamas to the Red Cross in Gaza city and driven over the border to undergo an initial medical examination on an army base before having an emotional reunion with their mothers. They were then transferred by helicopter to a Tel Aviv hospital.
All three were reported to be in relatively good health, although Damari’s hand was bandaged as she lost two fingers due to Hamas gunfire when she was seized more than a year ago.
“While Emily’s nightmare in Gaza is over, for too many other families the impossible wait continues,” said Damari’s British-born mother, Mandy.
In total, 30 more hostages, alive and dead, are due to be released in stages over the next six weeks while Israeli troops withdraw from Gaza population centres.
Thirty Palestinian prisoners are being released for every hostage under the first stage of the ceasefire agreement. On Sunday, 69 women and 21 teenage boys were returned but the Israeli busses had their windows blacked out to prevent the released prisoners flashing V signs as in previous releases.
Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has killed almost 47,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Some 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas October 7th, 2023 attack and 250 kidnapped, according to Israeli figures.
Tens of thousands of Gaza residents poured on to the streets on Sunday and gathered in the tent encampments set up for the more than one million displaced to celebrate the end of the war. But the destruction all around underscored the task ahead, and the reconstruction effort may take a decade or more at an estimated cost of almost €70 billion.
Hamas’s armed wing’s spokesman said the group is committed to the ceasefire, including keeping the hostages alive, as long as Israel holds its side of the deal.ctioning.
Hamas’ armed wing’s spokesman said the group is committed to the ceasefire, including keeping the hostages alive, as long as Israel holds its side of the deal.
World Food Programme aid trucks crossed into Gaza via the Zikim and Kerem Shalom crossings on Sunday carrying flour and ready-to-eat food parcels during the first day of a surge in humanitarian aid that is to accompany the ceasefire.
Welcoming the release of the three hostages, outgoing US president Joe Biden said the region has been fundamentally transformed. “After so much pain, death and loss of life, today the guns in Gaza have gone silent,” he said.
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin said he warmly welcomed the release of the hostages.
“This is an emotional moment for the three women and their families, and for the people of Israel,” he said.
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