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 Ceasefire begins first phase

The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza went into effect Sunday, halting more than 15 months of devastating war.  Israeli forces escorted three female hostages into Israeli territory. Hamas had released the hostages, the first of 33 set to be released during a six-week break in hostilities, to the International Committee of the Red Cross, who handed them off to the Israeli military.

Ninety Palestinians were to be released from Israeli prisons on Sunday, the first of 734 expected to be released.

The ceasefire was delayed by almost three hours on Sunday when Hamas failed to provide the list of the hostages it would release on the first day. During that delay, Gaza’s Civil Defense said, at least 19 people were killed as Israeli warplanes carried out strikes across the Gaza Strip. The names eventually were provided. The ceasefire has appeared to hold, with no reports of fighting.

David Mencer, a spokesman for Israel’s National Public Diplomacy Directorate, described the mood in Israel on Sunday: “We are a nation collectively holding its breath. … We are a nation consumed by the plight of our hostages. We find ourselves all at once elated and dreading outcomes. For Israelis, this is an emotional roller coaster.”

First three of 33 hostages released

The three women identified by Hamas as the first to be released were taken hostage by the militant group on Oct. 7, 2023.

The three Israeli hostages — Romi Gonen, 24; Emily Damari, 28; and Doron Steinbrecher, 31 — were escorted by members of the Israel Defense Forces and Israel Security Agency back home, according to the IDF.

“Their families have been informed by the responsible authorities that they have reunited with our forces,” the Israeli prime minister’s office said.

Here’s what we know about them:

Gonen was attending the Nova music festival in southern Israel when Palestinian militants attacked on Oct. 7 and kidnapped her as she tried to escape, according to Israeli news outlets. Her mother said Gonen told her over the phone that she had been shot. Reuters reported that she was a dancer.

Damari, the only remaining British-Israeli citizen held in Gaza, was kidnapped from her home in Kfar Aza, aged 27, when Hamas militants stormed across the Israeli border on Oct. 7.

Her mother, Mandy, previously said her daughter was “shot in the hand, injured by shrapnel in her leg, blindfolded, bundled into the back of her own car” and driven to Gaza.

Steinbrecher, a veterinary nurse with dual Romanian-Israeli citizenship, was taken from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza in southern Israel on Oct. 7, when she was 30 years old. That day, she called her mother, Simona, and said she was hiding under her bed because someone had broken into her room, her mother said in an editorial for the Financial Times.

“Ten minutes later, she sent a voice message to her friends — a message that said only one thing: “They’ve got me, they’ve got me,” her mother wrote.

“I want her so badly to know that we’re all fighting for her,” her mother wrote in October, on the anniversary of her daughter’s kidnapping. “Doron, please, I’m begging you — keep fighting until we can reach you.”

Other Phases of the Ceasefire

This is just the beginning of Phase one of the ceasefire. This phase also includes:

• After a delay lasting nearly three hours, the first stage of the three-phase agreement began after 11:15 a.m. local time on Sunday. According to Qatar's Foreign Minister this stage includes a 42-day ceasefire of hostilities for both sides.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel would be ready to fight “if necessary” and that President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump gave Israel “full backing” to do so if further negotiations with Hamas fell apart.
• Three hostages are expected to be released by Hamas on Sunday, with 30 more set to be released throughout the rest of the first phase of the deal. Two Americans — Keith Siegel and Sagui Dekel-Chen — are slated for release in the first phase, according to a senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity under rules set by the White House.
• The hostages are to be transferred by Hamas to the International Committee of the Red Cross, which said it was “ready and willing to undertake all required aspects of this operation.” The Red Cross will then hand over the hostages to the IDF within Gaza.
• Thirty Palestinian prisoners will be freed for every civilian hostage released. Palestinians convicted of certain charges, including murder and manufacturing weapons that were used for killing, will be released on the condition that they are transferred to Gaza or abroad and do not return for three years or permanently, depending on their cases, Israel said.
• The first phase will also include a “withdrawal and redeployment of Israeli forces outside densely populated areas,” the Qatari ministry said.Internally displaced people in Gaza will be allowed to return to their homes.
• Israeli forces will maintain “full control” over the Philadelphi Corridor under the terms of the agreement, Netanyahu said, citing the need to prevent potential weapons or hostage smuggling. The corridor — a sticking point in      prior negotiations — is a narrow, nine-mile strip of land that runs along the Egypt-Gaza border that includes the Rafah Crossing.
• A much-needed surge of humanitarian aid is also expected to enter the besieged enclave More than 500 trucks of humanitarian aid will be delivered to Gaza every day under the terms of the deal, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller has said. About half of those supplies will be diverted to northern Gaza, he added, where conditions have rapidly deteriorated in recent months amid ntense fighting.

Sixty people remain hostage in Gaza. They are believed to be alive, but Israel has not given the full basis for its estimates. They have been in captivity for 466 days.

One hundred and seventeen have been freed or rescued. A total of 78 hostages were freed in an exchange deal with Israel for Palestinian prisoners; 27 foreign and dual nationals were released outside the deal. Israel has rescued eight hostages in military operations. Hamas militants released four women for “humanitarian reasons.”

The hostage whose death was most recently confirmed by Israel is Hamza Alziadna bring to 74 death toll. There are 34 hostages reported killed whose bodies have not been recovered and remain in Gaza, including children, women, and babies.

Israel has said at least three hostages were killed in its own operations and said that it was “highly likely” that at least three others were killed “as a result of a byproduct of an IDF airstrike” in late 2023. Hamas has said that Israeli strikes have also killed other hostages. 

While Hamas is thought to hold most of the hostages, some are believed to be held by other militant groups, including Palestinian Islamic Jihad, whose fighters also took part in the Oct. 7 attack.

The number of hostages who have died in captivity and the ages, genders and nationalities of those remaining in Gaza are unclear. Israel has indicated that the majority of those remaining have Israeli or dual citizenship and are male.

Three American hostages are still believed to be alive in Gaza (two of ;which are scheduled to b e released in phase one), and the bodies of four others are still being held there. Washington is seeking an accounting of their deaths, according to the State Department. There are six Thai citizens and one Nepali citizen still believed to be in captivity.

The only children on Israel’s list of remaining hostages are Kfir Bibas, 1, and his brother Ariel, 5. Israel has said it is assessing Hamas’s claims that the Bibas children and their mother, Shiri, were killed. Yarden Bibas, Shiri’s husband and the father of the two children, is also being held hostage in Gaza and is believed to be alive.

We will be keeping a close watch on the progress of this ceasefire and release of hostages. Stay tuned.