The three Israeli hostages freed by Hamas today were taken to a hospital where they were to be reunited with their families and receive medical attention on the first day of a ceasefire between the Israeli army and Hamas in the 15-month war-torn Strip. of Gaza.
Late Sunday night, Arab media reported that the first Palestinian prisoners had been released. Earlier, thousands of displaced Palestinians made their way back to their homes as the guns fell silent at 12.15pm local time. Most will find nothing but ruins.
Meanwhile, video on social media shows the mothers of former hostages Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher seen at an IDF facility near the border.
The mothers of the former hostages are seen next to the head of the IDF Personnel Directorate, Major General Dado Bar Kalifa, watching their daughters return to Israel.
The mothers of former hostages Romi Gonen, Emily Damari, and Doron Steinbrecher are seen at an IDF facility near the border where the three women will be brought to shortly.
The mothers of the former hostages are seen alongside the head of the IDF Personnel Directorate Maj.… pic.twitter.com/CsOyXyi7Dl
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) January 19, 2025
Earlier
The first Israeli hostages of Hamas were released in the context of the implementation of the ceasefire agreement between the government of Israel and the Palestinian organization that was put into effect on Sunday 1/19 with a long delay.
As reported by the Israeli media Times of Israel citing the Saudi Al Arabiya news agency, Hamas handed over the three Israeli hostages to the Red Cross.
The Red Cross is now starting to transport Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher to the IDF in the runway area netzarimthe publication adds.
The information is also confirmed by the Israeli TV network Channel 12.
Footage shows a Red Cross convoy in the Gaza Strip heading to collect the three Israeli hostages from Hamas. pic.twitter.com/h6RfFw875u
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) January 19, 2025
The three hostages — Romy Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emilie Damari — were handed over by Hamas to the Red Cross, which will take them to IDF troops in Gaza.
From there, they are to be taken to a military facility in Israel for tests before being transferred to a hospital, where they will be reunited with their families.
At the same time, the Central Command of the Israeli Army (IDF) is preparing for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in the West Bank as part of the agreement.
The IDF said it would work to prevent celebrations and parades when the prisoners are released.
Agents of the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, have issued a warning to the families of those expected to be released to be very careful.
The process for the liberation of the Palestinians
The Israel Prison Service is preparing to release the first group, 90 Palestinian prisoners.
In a statement it states that it “received the list of prisoners who are expected to be released from various prisons as part of the “Wings of Freedom” operation for the return of the hostages to their homes”, without, however, giving their names.
Hamas’s prisoners office attributed the delay in announcing the list of Palestinians to be released to “errors” in some names, adding that this would be addressed.
According to Israeli media, the prisoners will be transferred from the prison service’s “Nahshon” unit to “Ofer” prison, located in the West Bank, where they will be identified by representatives of the Red Cross. The prisoners will wait in “Ofer” prison until the release of the three Israeli hostages is confirmed by the Israeli army. Of the 90 Palestinian prisoners, 78 will be transferred to the West Bank and 12 to East Jerusalem.
The West Bank prisoners will be taken by the Red Cross to the Beitunia checkpoint and then released. Residents of East Jerusalem will be taken to the Russian Tome detention center
The Palestinians are in the streets
Early this morning many Palestinians took to the streets to celebrate the truce, seemingly unaware of the delay in its implementation.
⚡️ #Gaza celebrates after breaking the occupation’s plans in a brutal war of extermination that lasted for many months pic.twitter.com/Zb2IE4ggLO
— The Askalan Falcon (@wagic_leeky214) January 19, 2025
🔴HEROES of GAZA
‼️The Civil Defense celebrates the end of a 16-month genocide and victory for the resistance.‼️ pic.twitter.com/QWQzncquLN
— shameen suleman (@shameensuleman) January 19, 2025
Some evacuees had already made their way back to their homes.
“We spent the night packing and were on our way back home when we heard the sound of shelling,” said Mohammad Baraka, a displaced person in southern Gaza.
hamas emerges from the tunnels and civilian infrastructure it had hidden in for 15 months while bringing death and destruction to the palestinian people, and celebrates “victory” among the ruins of gaza pic.twitter.com/jdWJiH3SAU
— nicholas potter (@n1ckism) January 19, 2025
Netanyahu stressed yesterday Saturday that this is “a temporary truce”, stressing that Israel reserves “the right to repeat the war, if necessary, with the support of the US”.
Opposing the truce agreement, far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party announced it was leaving the governing coalition.
Netanyahu’s government, however, maintains a small majority in parliament and is not in danger of collapse.
The terms of the agreement
Under the terms of the agreement, the first six-week phase will see a cessation of hostilities and the release of 33 Israeli hostages.
In exchange, Israel will release 737 Palestinian prisoners, as announced by the Ministry of Justice. Egypt, on the other hand, spoke of “more than 1,890” Palestinians who will be released in the first phase of the truce.
In exchange for the first three female hostages to be set free today, Israel will release 95 Palestinian prisoners, mostly women and minors, most of whom were arrested after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.
The agreement stipulates that Hamas will inform the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) where the meeting point inside Gaza will be and the ICRC will pick up the hostages from there, an official involved in the process explained.
According to an Israeli army officer, three reception points have been set up on Israel’s border with Gaza – at the Kerem Shalom and Eretz crossings and the one near Kibbutz Reim – from where the hostages, who will be taken by doctors, will be served in hospitals.
In addition to the first hostage releases, the first phase includes, according to outgoing US president Joe Biden, a “complete ceasefire”, Israel’s withdrawal from the populated areas of Gaza and an increase in humanitarian aid entering the enclave.
Egyptian authorities specified that the agreement provides for “the entry of 600 aid trucks per day”, which will include 50 fuel trucks.
The second phase will allow the release of the last hostages, before the third and final phase which involves the reconstruction of Gaza and the return of the bodies of the hostages who died.
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