Israel-Hamas ceasefire begins, raising hope that 15 months of war will end
A cease-fire between Israel and Hamas took hold in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, ushering in an initial six-week period of calm and raising hopes for the release of dozens of hostages held by the militant group and an end to a devastating 15-month conflict. A last-minute delay by Hamas put off the start of the truce by nearly three hours and highlighted its fragility.
But even before the truce officially took effect, celebrations erupted across the war-ravaged territory and some Palestinians began returning to their homes. Israel, meanwhile, announced the names of the first hostages expected to return home later Sunday, in exchange for the planned release of dozens of Palestinian prisoners.
The truce, which started at 11:15 a.m. local time, is just the first step toward ultimately ending the conflict and returning nearly 100 hostages abducted in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack.
Romi Gonen, 24, Emily Damari, 28, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, were released via the International Red Cross on Sunday and are now back in Israel. Gonen was abducted from the Nova music festival, while the other two were kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Damari is an Israeli-British dual citizen.
Hamas had been supposed to provide their names before the start of the ceasefire, originally planned for 8:30 a.m. The militant group released their names about two hours later, citing technical reasons and saying it was still committed to the agreement.
In the interim between 8:30 a.m. 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.
Displaced Palestinians set off for their former homes
As news of the ceasefire came Majida Abu Jarad made quick work of packing the contents of her family’s temporary lodging in the sprawling tent city of Muwasi, just north of the strip’s southern border with Egypt.
At the start of the war, they were forced to flee their house in Gaza’s northern town of Beit Hanoun, where they used to gather around the kitchen table or on the roof on summer evenings amid the scent of roses and jasmine.
The house from those fond memories is gone, and for the past year, Abu Jarad, her husband and their six daughters have trekked the length of the Gaza Strip, following one evacuation order after another by the Israeli military.
Seven times they fled, she said, and each time, their lives became more unrecognizable to them as they crowded with strangers to sleep in a school classroom, searching for water in a vast tent camp or sleeping on the street.
Now the family is preparing to begin the trek home — or to whatever remains of it — and to reunite with relatives who remained in the north.
“As soon as they said that the truce would start on Sunday, we started packing our bags and deciding what we would take, not caring that we would still be living in tents,” Abu Jarad said.
The ceasefire, agreed after a year of intensive mediation by the United States, Qatar and Egypt, is the first step in a long and fragile process aimed at winding down the 15-month war.
Netanyahu said he had instructed the military that the ceasefire “will not begin until Israel has in its possession the list of hostages to be freed, which Hamas committed to provide.” He had issued a similar warning the night before.
The 42-day first phase of the ceasefire should see a total of 33 hostages returned from Gaza and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees released. Israeli forces should pull back into a buffer zone inside Gaza, and many displaced Palestinians should be able to return home. The devastated territory should also see a surge in humanitarian aid.
This is just the second ceasefire in the war, longer and more consequential than the weeklong pause over a year ago, 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 six-week first phase and how the rest of the nearly 100 hostages in Gaza will be freed.
Dozens of people took to the streets in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis to celebrate the ceasefire, according to an Associated Press reporter. Four masked and armed Hamas fighters arrived in two vehicles as the celebrations were underway, with people welcoming them and chanting slogans in support of the militant group.
Gaza’s Civil Defence, first responders who operate under the Hamas-run government, held a parade in Gaza City, where the rescuers waved a Palestinian flag alongside other revellers, according to AP footage, which also showed a small group of people carrying the flags of Islamic Jihad, the second largest militant group after Hamas, which took part in the Oct. 7 attack.
The Hamas-run police began deploying in public after mostly lying low due to Israeli airstrikes. Gaza City residents said they had seen them operating in parts of the city, and the AP reporter in Khan Younis saw a small number out on the streets.
Israel and the ceasefire deal
Israel’s Cabinet approved the ceasefire early on Saturday in a rare session during the Jewish Sabbath, more than two days after mediators announced the deal. The warring sides were under pressure from both the outgoing Biden administration and President-elect Donald Trump to achieve a deal before the U.S. presidential inauguration on Monday.
It came after months of stumbling negotiations between the warring sides, and mediators Qatar, Egypt and the US, and is only the second such truce brokered in 15 months of war.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that Israel is treating the ceasefire with Hamas as temporary and retains the right to continue fighting if necessary.
Netanyahu also touted Israel’s military successes in Lebanon and Syria as the reason Hamas agreed to a ceasefire. “We have changed the face of the Middle East,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu stressed that he was able to negotiate the best deal possible even as Israel’s far-right Public Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said Saturday he and most of his party would resign from the government in opposition.
The three phases of the ceasefire
The ceasefire comprises of three phases. First, 33 hostages held by Hamas are to be released in a six-week phase in exchange for 737 Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons.
IDF forces will also move east away from densely-populated areas, allowing thousands of displaced Palestinians to return to what remains of their homes.
Aid into Gaza will also be ramped up, with 600 trucks expected to be allowed into the territory every day. A convoy of trucks has been amassing on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing since Friday.
The U.N.’s humanitarian affairs agency says it has ratcheted up its preparations for providing aid to Gaza after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas takes effect.
While the details of the second and third phases have been agreed in principle, negotiations to iron out the details are expected to take place during the six weeks of phase one.
Phase two will see the remaining hostages held by Hamas released and a full Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza.
Phase three will see the bodies of the remaining captives handed over to Israel in return for a three- to five-year reconstruction plan of Gaza to be conducted under international supervision.
Aid trucks line at the Rafah crossing
Local media in Egypt reported that 95 trucks carrying humanitarian aid crossed the Egyptian gate of the Rafah crossing and headed for the Gaza Strip.
Dozens of health workers and Red Crescent personnel prepared the rows of trucks and ambulances at the Rafah border crossing, which connects the Gaza Strip and Egypt.
The crossing, Gaza’s main gateway to the outside world, has been closed since last May when the Israeli army took over the area.
How badly is Gaza damaged?
The toll of the war has been immense, and new details on its scope will now emerge.
Over 46,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that sparked the war killed over 1,200. Hundreds of Israeli soldiers have died.
Some 90% of Gaza’s population has been displaced. The United Nations says the health system, road network and other vital infrastructure have been badly damaged.
Rebuilding, if the ceasefire reaches its final phase, will take several years at least. Major questions about Gaza’s future, political and otherwise, remain unresolved.
In their Interim Damage Assessment report issued in March last year, the European Union, the United Nations and the World Bank put the cost of rebuilding Gaza’s critical infrastructure at €17.9 billion.
And in October last year, the UN Conference on Trade and Development warned that it could take 350 years for Gaza’s economy to return to pre-war levels if the Israeli blockade of the territory remains in force.