Three Israeli hostages join Israeli forces in Gaza as end to war passes first hurdle – National

The first three hostages to be freed from Gaza have been handed over to the Israeli army, the military announced on Sunday, hours after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Israeli media, carrying live footage from Qatar-based Al Jazeera, showed the hostages heading to Red Cross vehicles as their convoy passed through Gaza City. The vehicles were escorted by armed men wearing blue Hamas armbands who struggled to guard the vehicles from the unruly crowd that numbered in the thousands.

Meanwhile, in Tel Aviv, thousands of people gathered to watch the news on big screens and erupted in joy. For months, many gathered in the square to demand a ceasefire agreement.

The deal ushers in the first six-week period of calm and raises hopes for the release of scores of military hostages and an end to the devastating 15-month war. A last-minute delay by Hamas delayed the start of the deal for nearly three hours and highlighted its weakness.

Even before the operation began, celebrations began throughout the area and some Palestinians began to return to their homes. Earlier, Israel announced the names of the first three hostages to be released for the release of 90 Palestinian prisoners next Sunday.

The agreement, which began at 11:15 a.m. local time, is the first step toward ending the conflict and returning nearly 100 hostages who were captured in a Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.

An Israeli official confirmed that Romi Gonen, 24, Emily Damari, 28, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, were the hostages who were released on Sunday. Gonen was kidnapped at the Nova music festival, while others were kidnapped at Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Damari is an Israeli-British citizen.

The official, who did not want to be named in accordance with the law, said that the families had approved the publication of the names.

Between 8:30 a.m. and the cease-fire, Israeli fire killed at least 26 people, 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 withdraw to safety inside Gaza.

Meanwhile, Israel's national security minister said his party, Jewish Power, is leaving the government to protest the ceasefire agreement. Itamar Ben-Gvir's departure weakens Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition but will not derail the deal.

In another incident, Israel announced that 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 Shaule and another soldier, Hadar Goldin, were left there after the 2014 war and have not been returned.

A weak agreement

A ceasefire agreement 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 a deal before Monday's inauguration.

Netanyahu on Saturday warned that he has the support of Trump to continue fighting if necessary.

The first phase of the 42-day ceasefire should see 33 hostages return from Gaza and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Many displaced Palestinians should be able to return home.

There should also be an increase in humanitarian aid, with hundreds of trucks entering Gaza every day, more than Israel previously allowed. The United Nations World Food Program said trucks started entering the two intersections after the conflict was stopped.

This is the second end of the war, longer and more important than the week-long standoff in November 2023, which has the potential to end the war for good.

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Negotiations for the second, more difficult phase of the ceasefire are due to begin in just over two weeks. Big questions remain, including whether the war will resume after the first phase and how other hostages in Gaza will be freed.

Palestinians are celebrating despite the delay

Across the Gaza Strip, celebrations broke out as people hoped for a break after the war killed tens of thousands, destroyed large areas and displaced most of its population.

Masked soldiers were seen at other celebrations, where crowds chanted slogans in support of them, according to Associated Press reporters in Gaza. Hamas-affiliated police began planting in the community after falling asleep due to Israeli airstrikes.

Some families left for their homes on foot, their goods loaded on donkey carts.

In the southern city of Rafah, residents returned to find extensive damage. Others found human remains, including skulls, in the debris.

“It's like watching a Hollywood horror movie,” resident Mohamed Abu Taha told AP as he surveyed the ruins of his family's home.

Israelis are divided over the ceasefire agreement

In Israel, people remain divided over this agreement.

Asher Pizem, 35, from the town of Sderot near Gaza, said that he is eagerly waiting for the return of the hostages but said that the agreement only postpones the next conflict with Hamas. He also criticized Israel for allowing aid to Gaza, saying it would contribute to the uprising of this group.

“They will take time and attack again,” he said as he looked at the smoldering ruins of Gaza on a small hill south of Israel and other Israelis gathered there.

Israel's cabinet agreed to a ceasefire early Saturday in an unusual time during the Jewish Sabbath, more than two days after mediators announced the deal.

A big toll

The misery of the war has been great, and new details about its scope are now emerging. The head of the Rafah municipality in Gaza, Ahmed al-Sufi, said that Israeli forces destroyed most of the infrastructure, including water, electricity and roads, in addition to thousands of homes.

More than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which says women and children make up more than half of the dead, but there is no breakdown between civilians and fighters.

The Hamas-led offensive in southern Israel that sparked the war killed more than 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and the army took about 250 hostages. More than 100 hostages were released during the ceasefire week in November 2023.

About 90 percent of Gaza's population has been displaced. The United Nations says homes, the health system, roads and other critical infrastructure have been badly damaged. Reconstruction – if the ceasefire reaches its final stage – will take several years at least. Big questions about the future of Gaza, political and otherwise, are still unknown.

Here's a look at the three hostages released on Sunday:

Romi Gonen, 24

Romi Gonen was kidnapped at the Nova music festival in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. That morning, Gonen's mother, Merav, and his eldest daughter spent nearly five hours talking to Gonen as the militants ransacked the festival grounds. Gonen told his family that the roads full of abandoned cars made it difficult to escape and that he would seek shelter in other trees.

He said the words that kept echoing in his mother's head every day. “Mom, I was shot, the car was shot, everyone was shot. … I'm hurt and I'm bleeding. Mom, I think I'm going to die,” Romi said in a press conference a few weeks after being kidnapped.

Not knowing what to do anymore, Merav Gonen tried to convince his daughter that she was not going to die, to start breathing and to heal her injured friends. According to Merav, Gonen's last words during the call were a scream of “Mama!” as the gunshots and men's shouts came closer, everything ended.

Then he hung up. Israeli authorities have identified the location of his phone in Gaza.

Over the past 15 months, Merav has been one of the loudest 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,” Merav told The Associated Press on the sixth anniversary of the Hamas attack. “Every day we wake up and take a deep breath, take a deep breath, keep walking, keep doing things that will bring him back.”

Emily Damari, 28

Emily Damari is a British-Israeli citizen who was kidnapped from her apartment in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, a collective farming village that has been hit hard by Hamas attacks. He lived in a small apartment in the new community, the closest part of the kibbutz to Gaza. Soldiers breached the kibbutz's border fence and ransacked the area.

Damari's mother, Mandy, said she likes music, traveling, soccer, good food, karaoke and hats. Kibbutz Kfar Aza said that Damari used to be “the glue that held his group of close friends together” and regularly organized gatherings of friends in the front corner of the barbecue throughout the kibbutz.

“I am holding on to that hope and hope that I still have in my heart that he is still alive, despite his suffering,” said Mandy Damari in front of Damari's house that burned down last January. “I'm desperate, I'm angry, and I fear for his life.”

Doron Steinbrecher, 31 years old

Doron Steinbrecher is a veterinary nurse who loves animals, and is Damari's neighbor at Kibbutz Kfar Aza.

At 10:20 on October 7, 2023, Steinbrecher called his mother. “Mom, I'm afraid. I hid under the bed and heard them trying to enter my house,” recalled his brother, Dor. He was able to send a voice message to his friends. “They found me! They found me! They found me!” in the times of his captivity.

That message was important in helping his 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. His brother said that the video gave them hope that he is alive, but it raised concerns because he looked tired, weak and unconscious.

In total, the soldiers killed 64 people and 22 soldiers, and kidnapped 19 people in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on Oct 7. With the return of Steinbrecher and Damari, there are still three members of the kibbutz in Gaza: American-Israeli Keith Siegel, 65. , and the twins Gali and Ziv Berman, 27.

With files from Melanie Lidman