SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
Three victims reportedly left a car surrounded by armed Hamas gentlemen in life television footage. As the group of soldiers chanted the name of the military aircraft of Hamas, the captives 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 delivered 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 teen boys were among the first team to get freed in exchange for the victims.
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 hundreds of Arab prisoners imprisoned in Israeli jails, the ceasefire calls for the stop of fighting, aid to be distributed to Gaza, and freeing 33 of the 98 Israeli and foreign hostages over the first step of the six-week initial period.
When the shooting stopped, Palestinians burst into the streets, some in celebration, others to visit the graves of relatives.
After spending 15 months lost in the desert, I finally found some water to drink. Aya, a woman 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 app that she felt “awake again.”
People made their way through a devasted landscape of rubble and twisted metal on narrow roads in the north of the territory, where some of the most intense Israeli airstrikes and battles with the militants took place.
Armed Hamas fighters reportedly sped through the southern city of Khan Younis while chanting and cheering the crowds. 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, were 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 previously 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. Hamas’s resumption of its occupation of Gaza will depend on Israel’s commitment, which has stated it will resume its occupation unless the militant group that has controlled the region’s enclave since 2007 is completely eradicated.
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 Hamas were to be 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 strewn with debris and rubble led to a number of carts carrying household items.
Ahmed Abu Ayham, a resident of Gaza City who lives with his family in Khan Younis, described the destruction as “dreadful” and said there was no point celebrating the ceasefire.
” We are in pain, deep pain and it is time that we hug one another and cry”, he said.
Long lines of trucks carrying food and supplies for the border crossed in the hours before the ceasefire was scheduled to end. 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.
According to Israeli records, the conflict between Israel and Hamas began when the militants stormed Israeli towns and villages on October 7, 2023, killing 1200 people and taking more than 250 hostages.
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
