- US president says Gaza ceasefire deal ‘one of the most difficult negotiations’ he has ever been involved in
- Israeli army spokesperson confirms: “Emily, Doron and Romi are now in good hands”
- Hamas says next prisoner exchange will take place next week, January 25
GAZA/CAIRO/JERUSALEM: Palestinians took to the streets to celebrate and return to the rubble of their bombed homes on Sunday, and Hamas released the first three hostages as part of a ceasefire deal that ended the fighting in Gaza.
Next prisoner exchange scheduled for Saturday
In a statement, Hamas says the next prisoner exchange will take place next week, Saturday January 25, reports Al Jazeera.
Israeli public broadcaster Kan announced that four Israeli captives would be freed in the exchange.
Captives ‘now in good hands,’ says Israeli army
Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari just held a press briefing during which he declared: “Emily, Doron and Romi are now in good hands” and have been “reunited” with the army Israeli security agency Shin Bet.
Armed Hamas fighters marched through the southern town of Khan Younis to cheers and chants from crowds. In the territory’s north, bombed to oblivion during the war’s heaviest fighting, people made their way on narrow roads through a devastated landscape of rubble and twisted metal.
“I feel like I finally found water to drink after being lost in the desert for 15 months,” Aya, a displaced woman from Gaza City who took refuge in Deir Al-Balah , in the center of the Gaza Strip, for more than a year. said after the fighting ended. “I feel alive again.”
Hostages freed from Gaza reunited with mothers
The Israeli military said the three female hostages released by Hamas as part of a Gaza ceasefire deal had been reunited with their mothers in Israel, AFP reports.
“The three returnees have just arrived at the initial reception point in the Gaza envelope area, and they are now meeting their mothers,” said the army, which shared an image of freed hostage Emily Damari to the alongside his mother smiling and waving heavily. bandaged hand.
In Tel Aviv, hundreds of Israelis present in a square in front of the Defense headquarters watched the release of the hostages on a giant screen. Crowds cheered, embraced and cried as three female hostages emerged from a vehicle in Gaza, surrounded by Hamas gunmen.
The hostages boarded International Committee of the Red Cross vehicles as the crowd of fighters chanted the name of Hamas’ military wing.
Shortly afterward, the Israeli military said the hostages, identified by the prime minister’s office as Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari, had reached Israeli territory. An Israeli official told Reuters the Red Cross said they were in good health.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, buses waited for the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Hamas said the first group released in exchange for the hostages included 69 women and 21 teenagers.
The first phase of the truce in the 15-month war between Israel and Hamas came into effect after a three-hour delay during which Israeli warplanes and artillery pounded the Gaza Strip.
This last-minute Israeli blitz killed 13 people, according to Palestinian health authorities. Israel criticized Hamas for being late in communicating the names of the hostages it would release, and said it had struck terrorists. Hamas said the delay in providing the list was a technical problem.
“Today, the guns in Gaza fell silent,” declared American President Joe Biden, who welcomed during his last full day in office a truce that had eluded American diplomacy for more than one year.
The truce calls for stopping fighting, sending aid to Gaza and releasing 33 of the 98 Israeli and foreign hostages still held during the first six-week phase in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in prisons. Israelis.
For Hamas, the truce could be an opportunity to emerge from the shadows after 15 months in hiding. Hamas police officers dressed in blue uniforms quickly deployed to certain areas.
People who had gathered to cheer the fighters chanted “Greetings to the Al-Qassam Brigades,” the group’s armed wing.
“All resistance factions remain despite (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu,” one fighter told Reuters. “This is a ceasefire, complete and complete, God willing, and there will be no return to war despite it. »
The ceasefire agreement follows months of on-and-off negotiations brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, and comes into effect on the eve of the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, who had declared that there would be “hell to pay” unless the hostages were released before he took office.
Biden calls Gaza ceasefire ‘one of the most difficult negotiations’ he’s been involved in
US President Joe Biden delivered a speech on the first day of the ceasefire and hostage exchange agreement in Gaza.
“The deal I pushed for last May… has finally come to fruition,” Biden said. “The ceasefire has come into effect in Gaza and today we are witnessing the release of hostages,” he added, mentioning the three Israeli hostages released today.
US President Joe Biden said the Gaza ceasefire deal was “one of the most difficult negotiations” he has ever been involved in.
“The road to this agreement has not been easy at all, it has been a long road,” he said. “But we got to this point today because of pressure from Israel on US-backed Hamas.
“Some have said that my policy of strong support for Israel…risked drawing America into a broader war in the region. I listened to these voices… but I concluded that abandoning the path I had taken would not have led us to the ceasefire we observe today, but instead would risk provoking war broader in the region that so many people feared,” he said. said.
Biden said the region had been “transformed,” as the Hamas leadership was dead and Hezbollah was “significantly weakened on the battlefield.”
“The Israeli campaign was extremely successful, so much so that by the end of November, the United States had negotiated a ceasefire in Lebanon… Today, there is a new president and a new prime minister who support a Lebanon sovereign without Hezbollah running the show,” he added. .
He continued: “Four additional women will be released in seven days, and three additional hostages will be released every seven days thereafter, including at least two U.S. citizens during this first phase. »
Biden added that on the 16th day of the ceasefire, negotiations would begin on the second phase of the agreement, which includes a permanent end to hostilities and the release of captured Israeli soldiers.
“Today alone, we expect several hundred trucks to enter the Gaza Strip as I speak,” Biden added.
“After so much suffering, destruction and loss of life, the guns in Gaza have fallen silent,” the president said, stressing that this agreement was “approved overwhelmingly” by actors, including the Security Council. UN security.
Gaza ceasefire brings ‘much-needed hope’: UN migration agency
The United Nations migration agency said the ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza brings “much-needed hope” as a pause in fighting began after months of conflict, Anadolu reports .
“The ceasefire in Gaza brings much-needed hope, offering a chance to reunite families and begin to rebuild shattered lives,” said International Organization for Migration (IOM) Director General Amy Pope , on X.
She said the scale of humanitarian needs in Gaza is “staggering” and called for “urgent and unified” efforts and large-scale support at all levels.
TRUMP AID: HAMAS WILL NEVER GOVERN GAZA »
There is no detailed plan for governing Gaza after the war, let alone rebuilding it. Any return of Hamas to control of Gaza will test Israel’s commitment to the truce, which has said it will resume war unless the militant group that has ruled the enclave since 2007 is completely dismantled.
Hardline National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir left the government on Sunday over the ceasefire, although his party said it would not attempt to overthrow Netanyahu’s government. The other most prominent conservative, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, remained in government for now but said he would resign if the war ended without Hamas completely destroyed.
Trump’s designated national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said that if Hamas reneged on the deal, the United States would support Israel “in doing what it needs to do.”
“Hamas will never govern Gaza. This is totally unacceptable.
The streets of the destroyed city of Gaza in the north of the territory were already occupied by groups of people waving the Palestinian flag and filming the scenes on their mobile phones. Several carts loaded with household goods were circulating in an artery strewn with rubble and debris.
Ahmed Abu Ayham, 40, a resident of Gaza City who took refuge with his family in Khan Younis, said that while the ceasefire may have spared lives, the loss of life and The scale of the destruction made it impossible to celebrate.
“We are suffering, deep pain and it is time to hug and cry,” he said.
Long lines of trucks carrying fuel and humanitarian supplies lined up at border crossings hours before the ceasefire took effect. The World Food Program said the crossing began Sunday morning.
The agreement requires 600 aid trucks to be allowed into Gaza each day during the initial six weeks of the ceasefire, including 50 carrying fuel. Half of the 600 aid trucks would be delivered to northern Gaza, where experts have warned famine is imminent.
The war between Israel and Hamas began after the militants stormed Israeli towns and villages on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli counts.
Since then, more than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks that have reduced the Gaza Strip to a desert, according to medical officials in the enclave. Almost all of the enclave’s 2.3 million residents are homeless. Around 400 Israeli soldiers also died.
Hamas says Israel ceasefire violations could endanger hostages
Hamas’ military wing said the group would respect the ceasefire agreement that came into force in Gaza, but warned that any possible violation by Israel would endanger the process and endanger the lives of the hostages, reports Reuters .
In a video address, al-Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Ubaida urged mediators to force Israel to commit to the ceasefire agreement.
