The first three hostages released from Gaza arrived in Israel on Sunday for tearful reunions with families, hours after the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took hold following 15 months of war.
Israel later started to release 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, as a coach carrying women and children exited the gates of Ofer prison, just outside the West Bank city of Ramallah.
All of those being released are women or children, according to a list provided by the Palestinian Authority’s Commission for Prisoners’ Affairs. Israel had detained them for what it said were offences related to Israel’s security, from throwing stones to more serious accusations like attempted murder.
Earlier, footage showed 28-year-old Israeli-British dual citizen Emily Damari, 24-year-old Romi Gonen and 31-year-old Doron Steinbrecher in a tense handover to the Red Cross on a Gaza City street.
They were surrounded by a crowd of thousands, accompanied by masked, armed men wearing green Hamas headbands.
The women were taken to Israeli forces and then into Israel, where their mothers were waiting.
The three women were in a stable condition, Sheba Medical Centre said, and authorities released footage of them reuniting with their families, hugging fiercely and sobbing.
Israel’s military also released images showing Ms Damari raising a bandaged hand in triumph.
It said she lost two fingers in the attack that sparked the war.
In Tel Aviv, thousands of people gathered to watch the news on large screens erupted in cheers.
For months, many had gathered in the square to demand a ceasefire deal.
Relatives of the women jumped, clapped and wept.
“An entire nation embraces you,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
The ceasefire ushers in an initial six-week period of calm and raises hopes for the release of dozens of militant-held hostages and an end to the devastating 15-month war.
A last-minute delay by Hamas put off the truce’s start by nearly three hours, but the spokesman for Hamas’s military wing later said it is committed to the ceasefire.
Even before the ceasefire took effect, celebrations broke out across the territory and some Palestinians began returning to their homes.
Next up is the release of 90 Palestinian prisoners later on Sunday.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, families and friends gathered excitedly as cars honked and people waved the Palestinian flag.
The truce, which started at 11.15am local time, is the first step towards ultimately ending the conflict and returning nearly 100 hostages abducted in Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack.
Ms Gonen, Ms Damari and Ms Steinbrecher were released.
Ms Gonen was abducted from the Nova music festival, while the others were kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Aza.
In the interim between 8.30am and when the ceasefire took hold, Israeli fire killed at least 26 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
It did not say whether they were civilians or fighters.
The military has warned people to stay away from Israeli forces as they retreat to a buffer zone inside Gaza.
Israel’s hard-line national security minister, meanwhile, said his Jewish Power faction was quitting the government in protest over the ceasefire agreement.
Itamar Ben-Gvir’s departure weakens Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition but will not affect the truce.
In a separate development, Israel announced it had recovered the body of Oron Shaul, a soldier killed in the 2014 Israel-Hamas war, in a special operation in Gaza.
The bodies of Mr Shaul and another soldier, Hadar Goldin, remained there after the 2014 war and had not been returned.
The ceasefire deal was announced last week after a year of mediation by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.
The outgoing Biden administration and President-elect Donald Trump’s team had both pressed for an agreement to be reached before the inauguration on Monday.
Mr Netanyahu on Saturday warned that he had Mr Trump’s backing to continue fighting if necessary.
The 42-day first phase of the ceasefire should see 33 hostages returned from Gaza and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees released.
Many displaced Palestinians should be able to return home.
There is also supposed to be a surge of humanitarian aid, with hundreds of trucks entering Gaza daily, far more than Israel allowed before.
The United Nations’ World Food Programme said trucks started entering through two crossings after the ceasefire took hold.
This is just the second ceasefire in the war, longer and more consequential than a week-long pause in November 2023, with the potential to end the fighting for good.
Negotiations on the far more difficult second phase of this ceasefire should begin in just over two weeks.
Major questions remain, including whether the war will resume after the first phase and how the rest of the hostages in Gaza will be freed.
