GAZA: Palestinians poured into the streets to celebrate and return to the rubble of their bombed-out homes on Sunday while Hamas released the first three hostages under a ceasefire deal that halted fighting in Gaza.
In Tel Aviv, thousands of Israelis cheered, embraced or wept in a square outside the defence headquarters as they watched live video on a giant screen showing three female hostages exiting a vehicle surrounded by armed Hamas men.
The hostages got into vehicles of the International Committee of the Red Cross as the crowd of fighters chanted the name of the armed wing of Hamas.
Soon after, the Israeli military said it was receiving the hostages, identified by the prime minister’s office as Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari. An Israeli official said as per the Red Cross, they were in good health.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, buses were awaiting the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli detention. Hamas said the first group to be freed in exchange for the hostages included 69 women and 21 teenaged boys.
The first phase of the truce in the 15-month-old war between Israel and Hamas took effect following a three-hour delay during which Israeli warplanes and artillery pounded the Gaza Strip. That final Israeli blitz killed 13 persons, according to Palestinian health authorities.
Israel blamed Hamas for being late to deliver the names of hostages it would free, and said it had struck terrorists. Hamas said the holdup in providing the list was a technical glitch. The truce calls for fighting to stop, aid to be sent in to Gaza and 33 of the 98 Israeli and foreign hostages still held there to go free over the six-week first phase in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
When the firing stopped, Palestinians burst into the streets, some in celebration, others to visit the graves of relatives. In the north of the territory, where some of the most intense Israeli airstrikes and battles with the militants took place, people picked their way on narrow roads through a devastated landscape of rubble and twisted metal.
Armed Hamas fighters drove through the southern city of Khan Younis with crowds cheering and chanting. Hamas policemen, dressed in blue police uniform, deployed in some areas after months of trying to keep out of sight to avoid Israeli strikes.
People who had gathered to cheer the fighters chanted “Greetings to Al-Qassam Brigades”—the armed wing of Hamas.
The ceasefire agreement follows months of on-off negotiations brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the US, and comes into effect on the eve of the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, who had said there would be “hell to pay” unless hostages were freed before he took office.
Hardline Israel 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. The other most prominent hardliner, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, remained in the government for now but said he would quit if the war ended without Hamas completely destroyed.
Trump’s national security adviser-designate, Mike Waltz, said if Hamas reneges on the agreement, the US would support Israel “in doing what it has to do”. “Hamas will never govern Gaza. That is completely unacceptable.”
The streets in shattered Gaza City in the north of the territory were already busy with groups of people waving the Palestinian flag and filming the scenes on their mobile phones. Several carts loaded with household possessions travelled down a thoroughfare scattered with rubble and debris.