People who had gathered to cheer the fighters chanted “Greetings to Al-Qassam Brigades” – the group’s armed wing.
Hamas frees first hostages as Gaza ceasefire deal begins. Hamas released the first three hostages under a ceasefire deal that halted fighting in Gaza on Sunday.
As per the details, Hamas fighters shouted and chanted slogans at crowds in the southern city of Khan Younis.
In Tel Aviv, hundreds of Israelis watched the hostages’ release on a giant screen in a square outside the defense headquarters. The crowd cheered, hugged and cried as three female hostages could be seen getting out of a vehicle in Gaza surrounded by Hamas gunmen.
The hostages boarded vehicles belonging to the International Committee of the Red Cross as the crowd of fighters chanted the name of Hamas’s armed wing.
The Israeli military said shortly afterwards that the hostages, identified by the prime minister’s office as Romy Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari, had crossed into Israeli territory. An Israeli official told Reuters that the Red Cross said they were in good health.
Buses in the Israeli-occupied West Bank await the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli custody. Hamas said the first group to be released in exchange for hostages included 69 women and 21 teenage boys.
The first phase of a ceasefire in the 15-month-old war between Israel and Hamas came into effect after a three-hour delay, during which Israeli warplanes and artillery pounded the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian health ministry said 13 people were killed in the last-minute Israeli bombing. Israel accused Hamas of delaying the release of the names of the hostages, saying it had targeted terrorists. Hamas said the delay in providing the list was a technical glitch.
“Today the guns in Gaza have fallen silent,” told US President Joe Biden, who welcomed a ceasefire on his last full day in office that had been marred by US diplomacy for more than a year.
The ceasefire calls for a halt to fighting, the sending of aid to Gaza and the release of 33 of the 98 Israeli and foreign hostages held in Gaza in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails to be released in the first phase of a six-week ceasefire.
The ceasefire could offer Hamas a chance to emerge from the shadows after 15 months of hiding. Hamas policemen in blue police uniforms have been deployed in some areas.
People who had gathered to cheer the fighters chanted “Greetings to Al-Qassam Brigades” – the group’s armed wing.
“All the resistance factions are holding out despite [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu,” one fighter told Reuters. “This is a ceasefire, a complete and comprehensive one, God willing, and despite it there will be no return to war.”
The ceasefire agreement follows months of talks brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the United States and comes into effect on the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to “pay as much as it takes.” The hostages were released before he took office.
