Israel-Hamas war: 3 Israeli hostages released amid ceasefire

Emily Damari, one of the three women released on Sunday, spent time with her mother after arriving in Israel from Gaza.

"After 471 days Emily is finally home," her mother Mandy Damari said, adding that "for too many other families the impossible wait continues".

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group that represents some hostage families, praised the release of three women.

"Their return today represents a beacon of light in the darkness, a moment of hope and triumph of the human spirit," the organization said.

Hundreds of Israelis in Tel Aviv watched a broadcast of the three hostages on a giant television screen, with many in the crowd crying and others cheering.

 

President Joe Biden welcomed the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, on what will be his final day in office.

"After so much pain, death and loss of life, today the guns in Gaza have gone silent," Biden said, regarding a truce he had hoped would come before the end of his term.

The US president said the "region has been fundamentally transformed."

Speaking about the ceasefire deal, Biden said it was one of the toughest negotiations he has been involved in. He defended his decision to support Israel throughout the conflict.

"The road to this deal has been not easy at all, it was a long road," Biden said. "But we've reached this point today because of the pressure Israel built on Hamas, backed by the United States."

The momentum created by the Gaza ceasefire should be used to work toward a Palestinian state living in peace with Israel, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said.

"At last the guns are silent. Israeli hostages are finally being released," Scholz wrote on the X social media platform.

"We should seize on the momentum to commit to a Palestinian state that can coexist with the State of Israel," he added.

Gaza's civilian population has "suffered enormously" during the war and their future "also concerns us," Scholz said.

As Gaza celebrates the first day of a ceasefire, DW spoke to two Palestinians in Gaza who shared their hopes for a lasting peace.

43-year-old Ali Nassar, from Rafah, said he felt immense happiness when the ceasefire was announced, because it meant "an end to the bloodshed and the preservation of children's lives."

"However, when I returned to Rafah and saw the area where I used to live, I was overcome with sadness. It looked as though an earthquake had struck. The scene was truly horrifying," he said.

Nassar said all Palestinians in Gaza hope for is peace and safety. "We don't want money; we just want to live in peace here in Gaza," he added.

Meanwhile, 21-year-old Malak Hussain, displaced in Nuseirat (refugee camp in central Gaza), said that she sincerely wishes "that all of Gaza will return to how it was before, and that we can begin rebuilding it."

"God willing, the truce will hold, and we will not return to war. This is a feeling we hope will last, and I pray it continues. May the war never return," she said.

The Israeli army has announced that three hostages from Gaza have crossed into Israel.

The hostages will be taken to a hospital in Tel Aviv, where they will be met by their families.

The Israeli military had earlier announced that the three female hostages who were released by Hamas are with its forces in the Gaza Strip.

"The three released hostages are being accompanied by IDF (Israel Defense Forces) and ISA (Israel Security Agency) forces on their return to Israeli territory, where they will undergo an initial medical assessment," the military had said.

The first three Israeli hostages were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross as part of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas, the Israeli military said.

Meanwhile, a senior Hamas official told AFP news agency that the Palestinian militant group had handed over three Israeli women hostages to the Red Cross, as agreed with Israel in a ceasefire deal.

An Israeli official told Reuters that the Red Cross said the women were in good health. 

Earlier, Hamas identified the first three Israeli hostages to be released as Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari.

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened to quit the coalition government if Israel halts its war against Hamas in Gaza.

He also said that he had received a commitment that Israel would not agree to ending the war before "achieving all of its goals."

Smotrich heads the nationalist Religious Zionism party, which is part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

Earlier, hardline National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and two other ministers from his nationalist-religious Otzma Yehudi party resigned in protest over the cabinet's approval of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

US President-elect Donald Trump has welcomed the imminent release of three hostages held by Gaza militants as part of a ceasefire deal with Israel.

"Hostages starting to come out today! Three wonderful young women will be first," Trump wrote on the social media platform Truth Social.

Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher, all Israeli civilians, will be released from captivity on Sunday, the Forum of Hostage Families confirmed.

Britain also welcomed the expected release of British-Israeli hostage Damari, a Foreign Office spokesperson said.

"We stand ready to support her upon her release," the spokesperson added. "We urge both sides to implement all phases of the deal in full and for all hostages to be returned."

Pope Francis on Sunday thanked mediators for their efforts in bringing about the ceasefire in Gaza. 

"Thanks to all the parties involved in this important outcome. I hope that, as agreed, it will be immediately respected by the parties and that all the hostages will finally be able to go home to hug their loved ones again," he said.

"I pray so much for them, and their families. I also hope that humanitarian aid will even more quickly reach ... the people of Gaza, who have so many urgent needs," Francis said.

"Both Israelis and Palestinians need clear signs of hope. I hope that the political authorities of both, with the help of the international community, can reach the right two-state solution," the pontiff went on.

"May everyone say yes to dialogue, yes to reconciliation, yes to peace." 

Earlier in January, the pope, who has previously called for a ceasefire in Gaza, described the humanitarian situation in the Palestianian enclave amid Israel's military campaign against Hamas as "very serious and shameful."

Trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip on Sunday as a truce between Israel and Hamas began, the United Nations says.

"First trucks of supplies started entering" almost immediately after the ceasefire took effect on Sunday morning, UN aid official Jonathan Whittall, said on X, formerly Twitter.

"A massive effort has been underway over the past days from humanitarian partners to load and prepare to distribute a surge of aid across all of Gaza," said Whittall, who is the interim chief of the UN's OCHA aid agency for the Palestinian territories.

He gave no details on where the supplies entered Gaza. 

An Egyptian source speaking to the AFP news agency on condition of anonymity, however, said that "197 trucks of aid and five of fuel entered through the crossing of Kerem Shalom between Israel and Gaza and that of al-Oga" and Nitzana between Egypt and Israel.

The UN'S World Food Program (WFP) said trucks have started entering Gaza through two crossings.

It said on X that the first WFP trucks were carrying wheat flour and ready-to-eat food parcels.  

"This ceasefire is critical for the humanitarian response. Safety, and access must be ensured," the UN agency said.

Thousands of Palestinians poured into the streets of Gaza after a truce between Israel and Hamas took effect after an initial delay. 

Some celebrated, others visited the graves of loved ones, and many began returning to their homes after more than 15 months of war that displaced the majority of the territory's population.

Thousands of people could be seen traveling with tents, clothes and their personal belongings.

"I'm very, very happy," said Wafa al-Habeel. "I want to go back and kiss the ground and the soil of Gaza. I am longing for Gaza (City) and longing for our loved ones."

Meanwhile, Ahmed Abu Ayham, who was displaced with his family from Gaza City and is sheltering in the southern city of Khan Younis, said the scene of destruction in his home city was "dreadful."

He added that while the ceasefire may have saved lives, it was no time for celebration.

As the ceasefire begins, children in Gaza are hoping their bedrooms are intact and "dreaming of sleeping in their own bed again" after spending months in makeshift tents, UNICEF official Rosalia Bollen told DW.

Bollen said she had spoken in the Al-Mawasi refugee camp to families from Rafah, in the south of the Palestinian enclave, who were "longing" to see if anything remains of the homes they have left.

She spoke of some confusion on Sunday morning as the ceasefire was delayed, with children celebrating in the street while shelling could still be heard close by and unsure if the truce meant that the war had truly ended.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas would likely remain an obstacle to regional stability if it continued to govern the Gaza Strip, as it has de facto done since 2007.

"If (Hamas) will stay in power, the regional instability it causes might continue," Saar said at a press conference shortly after the start of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that was agreed last week.

Saar also said that Israel remained committed to acheiving its objectives in the current war against Hamas, which include securing the return of hostages and the dismantling of Hamas' government and military capabilities.

Israel has been waging war against Hamas in Gaza since the group led a deadly militant attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, during which some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed, and more than 250 hostages taken.

Qatar, which has played a key role in mediation between Israel and Hamas, on Sunday confirmed the start of a truce between the two sides.

It also said some of the initial three female hostages to be freed under the deal hold foreign citizenship.

"We confirm that the names of the three hostages who will be released today have been handed over to the Israeli side," Qatar's Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said in a statement. "They are three Israeli citizens, one of whom holds Romanian citizenship and the other British citizenship. Thus, the ceasefire has begun."
 

The planned ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect at 11:15 a.m. local time (0915 GMT) after a delay of almost three hours, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said.

The delay came after Hamas was late in presenting a list with names of three hostages due to be released under the deal brokered last week.