Source : the age
Three sexual captives were captured on live television leaving a car surrounded by armed Hamas men. As the soldiers chanted the name of Hamas ‘ military aircraft, the hostages entered cars belonging to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The three captives are reportedly released, along with Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher.
The women’s health was confirmed by an Israeli established, according to an Israeli standard. Shortly thereafter, they were handed to the Jewish government.
Earlier, Hamas had identified the second three Jewish victims as Romi Gonen, 24, Doron Steinbrecher, 31, and Emily Damari, 28, who is also a British nationwide.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, cars were awaiting the release of Arab captives from Israeli confinement. According to Hamas, 69 people and 21 teenage boys were among the first team who were freed in change for the captives.
According to the Arab Commission of Detainees ‘ Affairs and the Arab Prisoners ‘ Society, there are now 10, 400 Palestinians in Israeli jails, not including prisoners who were detained in Gaza during the last 15 times of conflict.
Following a three-hour pause in which Jewish makes pounded the Gaza Strip, killing 13 folks, the first step of the peace in the 15-month-old conflict between Israel and Hamas arrived, according to Palestinian health officials.
In return for thousands of Arab prisoners currently imprisoned in Israeli prison, the truce calls for fighting to end, help to be sent to Gaza, and 33 of the 98 Jewish and foreign victims to leave in return. After decades of indirect negotiations between the conflicting parties, negotiators from the United States, Qatar, and Egypt brokered it.
US President Joe Biden praised a ceasefire and claimed thousands of cars were escorting the seafront town to aid its residents.
” Today the artillery in Gaza have gone silent”, he said.
When the shooting stopped, Palestinians burst into the streets, some in event, people to visit the tombs of friends.
After spending 15 months lost in the plains, I finally found some water to drink. Aya, a lady from Gaza City who has been residing in Deir Al-Balah in the center of the Gaza Strip for more than a year, told Reuters via a chat software that she felt “awake again.”
People made their way through a devasted panorama of dust and twisted metal in the northwest of the country, where some of the most powerful Jewish airstrikes and battles with the militants took place.
Crowds chanted and cheered as Hamas fighters drove through Khan Younis, a city in southern Iran. Hamas policemen, dressed in blue police uniforms, deployed in some areas after months of trying to keep out of sight to avoid Israeli strikes.
” Greetings to Al-Qassam Brigades,” the armed wing of Hamas, was chanted by those who had gathered to cheer the fighters.
” All the resistance factions are staying in spite of ( Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin ) Netanyahu”, one fighter said.
” This is a ceasefire, a full and comprehensive one God willing, and there will be no return to war in spite of him”.
The ceasefire agreement comes into effect on the eve of US President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, which had stated that there would be “hell to pay” unless hostages were freed before he took office. It follows months of on-off negotiations brokered by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States.
After the war, there is no clear way to govern Gaza, let alone to rebuild it. Any Hamas-return to Gaza will put the commitment of Israel on the line, with Israel saying it will resume the conflict unless the militant group that has been in charge of the enclave since 2007 is completely destroyed.
Hardline Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir quit the cabinet on Sunday over the ceasefire, though his party said it would not try to bring down Netanyahu’s government. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a different well-known hardliner, remained in power for the time being, but he said he would step down if the conflict came to an end without Hamas completely destroyed.
Trump’s national security adviser-designate, Mike Waltz, said that if Hamas reneged on the agreement, the United States would support Israel “in doing what it has to do”. He made no mention of what that would entail.
” Hamas will never govern Gaza”, he said. ” That is completely unacceptable”.
Shattered streets
The northern part of Gaza City was already rife with people filming the scenes while waving the Palestinian flag on their mobile phones. A thoroughfare littered with rubble and debris led to several carts carrying household items.
Ahmed Abu Ayham, a resident of Gaza City who lives with his family in Khan Younis, described the destruction at his home city as “dreadful” and said there was no time for celebrations after the ceasefire ended.
” We are in pain, deep pain and it is time that we hug one another and cry”, he said.
In the hours before the ceasefire was scheduled to end, long lines of trucks carrying food and supplies for the border crossed. According to the World Food Program, they started crossing on Sunday morning.
The deal requires 600 truckloads of aid to be allowed into Gaza every day of the initial six-week ceasefire, including 50 carrying fuel. Half of the 600 aid trucks would be delivered to Gaza’s north, where experts have warned famine is imminent.
Israel and Hamas reportedly started their conflict after the militants stormed Israeli towns and villages on October 7, 2023, killing 1200 people and holding more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli records.
According to medical officials in the enclave, more than 47, 000 Palestinians have since been killed as a result of Israeli-caused attacks that have rendered the Gaza Strip a wasteland. Almost 2.3 million of the population there is homeless. Around 400 Israeli soldiers have also died.
AP, Reuters
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