Three Israeli hostages released by Hamas as ceasefire in 15-month-long war in Gaza begins
Three Israeli hostages were set free Sunday at the start of ceasefire in the 15-month-long brutal war between Israel and Hamas, marking the beginning of a truce that is expected to lead to a weeks-long exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners and a cessation of the fighting that has decimated Gaza.
The three Israeli women who were set free, in exchange for an expected 90 Palestinian prisoners, in the first phase of the ceasefire. No American is on the initial hostage release list provided by Hamas, nor is two-year-old Kfir Bibas − the red-headed baby taken in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks who has garnered global attention.
The three released hostages are being accompanied by IDF special forces and ISA forces on their return to Israeli territory, where they will undergo an initial medical assessment.
The deal was met with celebration in Gaza, which has been decimated in the war that began with the Hamas attacks on Israel, and prompted hopes that a fight that has transformed the Middle East will come to an end.Thirty-three hostages are expected to be released in the next six weeks as part of the deal's first stage, including the two of the remaining Americans presumed alive and two Bibas family children still in captivity.
President Joe Biden in remarks from Charleston, South Carolina, said four more Israeli women would be released in seven days, and three additional hostages would be released every week. Talks about the second phase of the deal are set to begin in a little over two weeks. Several hundred aid trucks were expected to enter into Gaza today, he said.
"After so much pain, destruction, loss of life, today the guns in Gaza have gone silent," Biden said. "I've worked in foreign policy for decades. This is one of the toughest negotiations have been part of."
Here's what we know about the ceasefire.
What are the terms of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal?
The deal is expected to unfold in three stages.
The first stage, due to take place over the next six weeks, would see 33 hostages released in small groups at regular intervals in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons. During this time, Israeli troops would withdraw from populated areas of Gaza. Most but not all of the hostages in the first wave are believed to be alive.
Negotiations for the second phase, when more hostages and prisoners will be released and the war would end, are due to begin in early February − sixteen days after the implementation of the first stage. The third phase involves Gaza's reconstruction and the return of any remaining deceased hostages, a process that could take years.
Who are the Israeli hostages being freed Sunday?
Hamas said in a statement it would release three female hostages: Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher. Israel has since confirmed these hostages were released on Sunday. The Israeli Defense Forces said in a statement that they were received in southern Israel, where they would receive a medical assessment.
Gonen was 23 when Hamas abducted her from the Nova Music Festival in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. "They shot me, Mom and I’m bleeding," Gonen told her mother, by phone, shortly before being abducted as she tried to flee the area, according to Israeli media reports. "Everyone in the car is bleeding."
Damari was 28 when Hamas snatched her from her home at Kibbutz Kfar Aza, near Israel's border with Gaza. Damari was the only British national still being held in Gaza. She has dual Israeli-British citizenship. Damari suffered gunshot wounds to her hand and leg when she was abducted, her mother told the BBC. Hamas killed her dog.
Steinbrecher, 31, is a veterinary nurse. She was in her apartment in Kibbutz Kfar Aza when Hamas attacked it. That morning, she sent a voice message to friends: "They've arrived, they have me," her family has said.
Who are the Palestinian prisoners being released?
Israel’s Justice Ministry has said Israel will release, per the ceasefire agreement, more than 730 Palestinian prisoners and detainees from the West Bank and over 1,100 Gaza residents held in Israeli prisons.
Israel characterizes many of these prisoners and detainees as terrorists and murderers. Many Palestinians disagree with that. They say they are freedom fighters often been arbitrarily imprisoned because they oppose Israeli rule.
A list of 95 prisoners who could be included in the first part of the swap was released by Israel on Friday. Many of the names on the list were women, arrested after Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks.
About 10,000 Palestinians are imprisoned in Israel. Some have been detained for throwing stones or incendiary devices. Others have been jailed for crimes including attempted murder or manufacturing knives and daggers. Some have murkier offenses attached to their names, such as “state security” or "damage to the security area."
Some have no charges at all.
What about the Americans? Who's being set free?
In all, Hamas is holding seven Americans, all dual Israeli-Americans.
Civilians Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36, who has ties to Connecticut, and Keith Siegel, 64, from North Carolina, are expected to be the first two of the three Americans presumed to be alive to be freed in the deal.
Edan Alexander, 21, a soldier, from New Jersey, would be freed in a later stage of the agreement.
"I just want to hug him," Alexander's father Adi said in a phone interview.
"I hope he will say, 'You know what? It wasn't so bad guys. I'm good.'"
How did we get here and what happens next?
The conflict began when Hamas, which controls the small coastal enclave of Gaza, attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing approximately 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 more, taking them back to Gaza.
Israel's military response has reduced much of Gaza to rubble and killed nearly 47,000 Palestinians, according to Hamas-run health authorities in Gaza. Biden has hailed "many months of intensive diplomacy" for helping bring about the ceasefire alongside mediators in Qatar and Egypt. President-elect Donald Trump has also claimed credit.
"Some said my policy of a firm support for Israel and relentlessly pursuing diplomacy risked drawing America into a wider war in the region. I listened to those voices, many of whom I respected a great deal, but I concluded, abandoning the course I was on, would not have lead us to the ceasefire we're seeing today," Biden said in Charleston.
The region has been transformed, he said, as a result of Israel's military campaign. A credible path now exists for an independent Palestinian state, Biden added, and the normalization of Israel in the region.
If the ceasefire holds, it could help bring an end to the Gaza war.