JERUSALEM/GAZA, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- The first three Israeli hostages released from the Gaza Strip under a ceasefire agreement that took effect on Sunday have returned to Israel and reunited with their families. Meanwhile, Gazans are immersed in celebrations marking the end of over 15 months of deadly Israeli strikes.
The ceasefire ended an Israeli offensive that claimed more than 46,900 Palestinian lives, according to Gaza's health authorities. The deadly fighting also razed much of Gaza and caused widespread hunger and diseases in the strip.
Among the three released women are Emily Damari, a 28-year-old British-Israeli and Doron Steinbrecher, a Romanian-Israeli veterinary nurse aged 30, both of whom were abducted from Kibbutz Kfar Aza outside northern Gaza, and Romi Gonen, 23, who was taken from the Nova music festival. A live broadcast from Gaza showed the hostages, freed from 471 days of captivity, being transferred from a Hamas vehicle surrounded by armed militants to a Red Cross vehicle, which transported them to Israeli forces.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office released photos of the women embracing their mothers at a military compound outside Gaza. Later, helicopters flew them to Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv, where they received medical and psychological care.
The Red Cross earlier informed the Israeli side that their condition was "good." However, a screenshot of Damari during a video call showed her with a bandaged hand missing two fingers, an injury sustained during her abduction by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. Her mother, Mandy, expressed in a statement her gratitude to supporters, saying, "After 471 days, Emily is finally home."
In Gaza, celebrations erupted in the streets, with people chanting and waving the flag of Palestine. Displaced residents began returning to their homes in northern and southern regions, only to find much of the infrastructure reduced to dust.
Under the ceasefire agreement, Israel is set to release 90 Palestinian detainees on Sunday, primarily women and children from the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Over the next six weeks, Hamas is to release 33 hostages in phases, including women, children, men over 50, the sick, and the injured. Deceased hostages are expected to be returned in later stages. Israel estimates that about half of the 98 hostages still held in Gaza are alive, though Hamas has not provided confirmation.
In Tel Aviv, large crowds gathered at Hostage Square to celebrate and demand adherence to the agreement. Families and friends of the hostages were seen following the news of their release, cheering and bursting into tears as the women were transferred to Israeli forces.
Netanyahu called the release "a great moment, an exciting moment…," adding that the three "went through hell."
Meanwhile, Israel Defense Forces Spokesman Daniel Hagari, speaking at a press briefing, warned the military was boosting forces in the West Bank and remaining prepared for military action if Hamas violates the truce.
Abu Ubaida, spokesperson for Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, said on Sunday that Al-Qassam and other Palestinian factions are committed to the ceasefire deal.
"We, along with other resistance factions, declare our full commitment to the ceasefire agreement, but this remains contingent on the enemy's adherence," Ubaida emphasized in a televised statement.
Also on Sunday, the first humanitarian aid trucks entered Gaza from Egypt, Palestinian sources confirmed.
Based on the ceasefire agreement, about 600 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid, including 50 fuel trucks, will enter Gaza every day to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The deal, brokered by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States, aims to end the fighting between Israel and Hamas that was triggered by Hamas' cross-border assault on Oct. 7, 2023, which resulted in the killing of 1,200 people in Israel and the kidnapping of about 250 others. ■