Sounds of celebration replaced those of explosions in the Gaza Strip on Sunday as a fragile ceasefire took effect after 470 days of war, allowing some hostages to return home to Israel, Palestinians imprisoned in Israel to be liberated and for displaced Gazans to search for what remains of their home.
Under the terms of the painstakingly reached agreement, fighting between the Israeli army and Hamas militants ceased at 11:15 a.m., raising hopes of a more lasting end to a war that has plunged the Middle East into fear and uncertainty.
The first hostages – three women captured during the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 – were released soon after and, as the danger diminished, aid deliveries began heading in the opposite direction, crossing border checkpoints. Early Monday morning, the Israelis announced that they had released 90 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
Cheerful Palestinians honked car horns and played loud music in the central Gaza town of Deir al Balah, where children ran in the streets. Israelis also celebrated the return of hostages, with anxious families awaiting the release of even more.
But what underlies the relief is the knowledge that this phase of the ceasefire is expected to last only 42 days and release only some of the hostages, and that major diplomatic obstacles await us if this ceasefire must be extended. Israel and Hamas reached an agreement in part by postponing their most intractable differences until a nebulous “second phase” that neither side is sure of reaching.
Almost as soon as the bombs stopped falling, masked gunmen and uniformed Hamas police came out of hiding and demonstrated in the streets of Gaza. The show of force was unequivocal, demonstrating that even after an overwhelming Israeli military campaign aimed at destroying Hamas, the militant group remains the dominant Palestinian power in Gaza.
On Saturday evening, as the ceasefire approached, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reminded enemies and allies alike that the first phase of the agreement was temporary and that Israel could still return to the fight if negotiations on the next stage of the deal were complete. the ceasefire is broken.
“We retain the right to resume the war, if necessary, with the support of the United States,” said Mr. Netanyahu, whose coalition has been sharply divided by the ceasefire agreement. » declared in a televised address.
Yet, whatever the anxieties of the following weeks and months, on Sunday there were moments of joy.
One of the freed hostages, Emily Damari, could be seen smiling and leaning out of the open window of a van as she was taken to Sheba Hospital in Tel Aviv. Ms. Damari was last seen free 15 months ago, when she was kidnapped from her home on a kibbutz in southern Israel. She was shot in the hand and taken away in her own car, with an activist driving.
A photo of Ms. Damari released by the Israeli army on Sunday shows her still smiling, although she is missing two middle fingers from her left hand. The three hostages were then reunited with their loved ones, who cried and hugged them tightly after more than a year apart, according to footage released by the Israeli government. Their parents, siblings and friends had led an international campaign for their freedom.
Under the terms of the deal, Hamas is to gradually release 33 hostages and, in exchange, Israel is to release more than 1,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, some of whom are serving life sentences for brutal attacks against Israelis. Ninety of them, all women and minors, were to be released on Sunday.
Friends of the three hostages freed Sunday danced, sang and waved Israeli flags in the air as they gathered at a hospital helipad. Gal Kubani, 28, a friend of Ms Damari, said she was “delighted” by the news of her release and “proud of Emily for surviving this madness”.
In Gaza, celebration was tempered by grief. More than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed during the Israeli military campaign, according to Gaza health authorities, who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Large swaths of the enclave are in ruins and many displaced people have no homes to return to.
Soon after the fighting ended, waves of displaced Palestinians began heading north, eager to see if parts of their homes were still standing.
Many people said they were determined to begin reclaiming the lives they once knew, despite the enormous destruction in the enclave. “The joy of returning home is immense, but it is mixed with sadness,” said Ahed al-Okka, 52, a construction worker from Gaza City.
For others, like Suhaila Dawaas, a displaced Gazan who said she lost eight loved ones in the war, grief has eclipsed any hope for the future. Her house was largely destroyed, although she hoped to find some memories of the life her family once led in the rubble.
“I can’t say I’m happy about this truce,” said Ms. Dawaas, a 55-year-old mother of eight. “What do we have left after all? After the endless loss, the destruction, the pain?
Drone videos taken over Gaza showed people moving across wasteland. Gaza’s dense neighborhoods had been reduced to panicked concrete slabs, the roads turned to dust. With countless bodies still trapped under the rubble, members of the Gaza Civil Emergency Service set to work.
The war began after Hamas invaded southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people, according to Israel, and capturing 250 hostages. Around a hundred hostages are still in Gaza, but around a third are believed to have died.
Both Israel and Hamas retained part of their bargaining chips. At the end of the first phase of the truce, Hamas will still hold around two-thirds of the hostages. And Israel will continue to occupy parts of Gaza and hold key prisoners, including Marwan Barghouti, an iconic Palestinian activist leader and political figure.
On Sunday, United Nations trucks carrying humanitarian supplies began entering Gaza just 15 minutes after the ceasefire took effect, according to Jonathan Whittall, head of the United Nations humanitarian office for the Palestinian territories. Months of lawlessness and restrictions on humanitarian deliveries have lasted aid reduced to a trickle.
Two convoys carrying ready-to-eat food packages and wheat flour arrived in the enclave on Sunday, one passing through the Kerem Shalom southeast of Gaza, and another at a crossing to the north, according to Martin Penner, spokesman for the United Nations World Food Program. The ceasefire agreement calls for 600 trucks to be allowed to deliver aid to Gaza residents daily, although it is unclear how the supplies will be distributed.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the mood was one of worry as families and friends awaited the release of the first of 90 Palestinian prisoners from Israel’s Ofer prison. Some in the crowd wondered if the releases would actually take place.
“People are too exhausted and their feelings are mixed with sadness about Gaza,” said Zuhair Yousef, a taxi driver. “So we’re waiting until the last minute.”
The ceasefire has already opened deep fissures within Prime Minister Netanyahu’s governing coalition.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right national security minister, resigned in protest from the cabinet and withdrew his Jewish Power party from the coalition on Sunday. The Religious Zionism party, led by Bezalel Smotrich, suggested it might do the same unless Mr. Netanyahu continued the war after the initial truce. If he did so, Mr Netanyahu’s government would hold less than half the seats in the Knesset. Israeli parliament, which could eventually force the government to fall and force new elections.
Teams of diplomats representing both President Biden and President-elect Donald J. Trump played a major role in brokering the ceasefire, and both men took credit for it during the -last day of Mr. Biden’s term.
In remarks in South Carolina, Mr. Biden defended his unwavering support for Israel, despite advice from some who warned that it could drag the United States into a broader war. “Abandoning the path I was on would not have led us to the ceasefire we are witnessing today,” he said.
The report was provided by Adam Rasgon, Natan Odenheimer, Ephrat Livni, John Reiss, Gabby Sobelman, Myra Noveck, Viviane Yee, Fatima Abdoul Karim And Yan Zhuang.
