BY OSABUOHIEN VIVIAN ROSE
Hamas has handed over the first three hostages under a ceasefire deal that has paused the 15 month-old war in Gaza.
They were released to the Red Cross and are now with Israeli forces.
The Red Cross said the three women are in good health, an Israeli official told the Reuters news agency.
Emily Damari, 28, was abducted from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza during the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel when she was “shot in the hand, injured by shrapnel in her leg, blindfolded, bundled into the back of her own car, and driven back to Gaza”, according to her mother.
The other two hostages are 31-year-old Doron Steinbrecher, who was also taken from her home in the same kibbutz in southern Israel as Ms Damari, and Romi Gonen, 24, who was abducted from the Supernova music festival.
Shortly after, Israel confirmed the names of the 90 Palestinian prisoners – including women and children – to be released today in exchange.
Back in decimated Gaza, Palestinians have been both celebrating the relief from the bombing and grieving the loss of loved ones and livelihoods.
Some have started the trek back through the rubble to what is left of their homes, hoping to pick up any pieces of their lives.
“I feel like at last I found some water to drink after getting lost in the desert for 15 months. I feel alive again,” said a woman from Gaza City, who had been sheltering in Deir al Balah in the central Gaza Strip, for over a year.
The long-sought ceasefire for Gaza, where Israel has been waging a powerful military campaign for the past 15 months, was delayed before it eventually took effect at 11.15am local time (9.15am UK time).
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the ceasefire, which had been due to start at 8.30am, would not begin until Israel received the names of the three hostages to be released.
After receiving the list, his office confirmed in a statement the ceasefire had started, and that Israeli security personnel were checking the “details” and contacting the families of the hostages.
It also said four other living female hostages would be freed in seven days.
According to the terms of the ceasefire, three hostages will be released by Hamas today in exchange for the release of more than 90 Palestinian prisoners.
Israel had continued to launch military strikes on Gaza, killing a further 13 people, and injuring dozens, the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said.
A source from within Hamas claimed to the Ynet news site on Sunday morning that the delay in handing over the names was purely due to “technical reasons,” adding that the list had to be approved by Hamas leader Muhammad Sinwar.
According to the source, Hamas operatives communicate “physically via emissaries and it takes time to agree on the names and the location of the hostages when IDF planes are still above them.”
Israel had anticipated
The Israeli military said it struck “terror targets”.
Medics reported tanks firing at the Zeitoun area in Gaza City, and said an airstrike and tank fire also hit the northern town of Beit Hanoun, sending residents who had returned there in anticipation of the ceasefire fleeing.
As the fragile ceasefire started, Israeli forces started withdrawing from parts of Gaza, allowing thousands of displaced Palestinians to begin the journey back to their battered homes.
Two thirds of all structures in the Gaza Strip have been damaged or obliterated, according to the United Nations Satellite Centre.
Weary residents returning to Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza found their homes reduced to rubble.
The deal was agreed by Israel’s cabinet on Friday night after a breakthrough in negotiations mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt was announced on Wednesday.
Its first stage will last six weeks, during which 33 of the remaining 94 hostages – women, children, men over 50, the ill and wounded, will be released in return for almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
The Palestinians to be released include 737 male, female and teenage prisoners, some of whom are members of militant groups convicted of attacks that killed dozens of Israelis, as well as hundreds of Palestinians from Gaza in detention since the start of the war.
The pause in fighting is also supposed to enable in humanitarian aid into the war-ravaged territory under the negotiated deal.
The war began after Hamas militants invaded Israel, killing about 1,200 people and abducted another 250 on 7 October 2023. Around half of the hostages were freed during a brief ceasefire in November that year.
Israel retaliated with an offensive in Gaza that has killed over 46,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, it does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but mainly women and children.
