
Roving Periscope: Fragile ‘ceasefire’ as Israel and Hamas exchange prisoners
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Nobody knows how long would the fragile six-week-long ‘ceasefire deal’ between Israel and Hamas survive but, as it folded on Sunday, the Sunni terror group of the Gaza Strip released three Israeli women hostages as Tel Aviv also released 90 Palestinian prisoners as per terms of the peace deal, which has, ironically. divided the Israeli government and the public alike.
The deal, cobbled together by outgoing US President Joe Biden and his team, happened hours before President-elect Donald Trump’s Inauguration as the 47th US President on Monday. Trump had warned the Middle East to stop the war forthwith or he would make it “hell.”
According to the media reports on Monday, Israel was, overall, hopeful with many having tears of joy and hugs on Sunday as they received the three freed Israeli hostages held captive by Hamas. The released women reunited with their families in the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal.
The three women – Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher, and Emily Damari – were handed over to the Red Cross officials by armed men in camouflaged military gear, with green Hamas headbands.
They were held hostage for 469 days by Hamas since its attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed at least 1,200 people. The Lebanon-backed Hamas group released them in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shared videos and pictures of the three women – draped in Israeli flags – reuniting with their families. Visuals showed the women embracing their mothers at a reception center, with one of them waving a bandaged hand missing two fingers at her family on the other end of a mobile phone video call.
“We didn’t have any sign of life from her for a whole year and this is the first time we see her, and we see her walking on her two feet and we are just waiting here to hug her and say how much we love her,” said the family of the released hostages.
PM Netanyahu, welcoming the released women back home, said on the phone: “I would like you to tell them: Romi, Doron, and Emily – an entire nation embraces you. Welcome home.” He also warned that Israel reserved the right to resume the Gaza war if the ceasefire broke down.
Apart from the families of the three released captives, thousands of people, some cheering and crying, gathered in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv as a giant screen broadcasted the first glimpse of the women. A group of Israelis also played music and sang patriotic songs.
On the other hand, massive celebrations with fireworks broke out in ruined Gaza as buses carrying the Palestinian prisoners arrived in Ramallah on the West Bank.
Ending more than 15 months of war that killed over 47,000 people, Israel began a fresh ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza on Sunday, nearly three hours after its initial schedule. Negotiations for the second phase of the agreement will begin by the 16th day of phase one. It is likely to include the release of the remaining 94 hostages.
The start of the ceasefire was delayed by several hours on Sunday morning after Hamas was late confirming the hostages’ names. Nineteen Palestinians were reportedly killed in Israeli strikes before the list was delivered.
Once the truce began, hundreds of displaced people began heading back to their homes across Gaza and convoys of lorries carrying desperately needed humanitarian aid crossed into the territory.
The three-phase deal was brokered last week by the US, Egypt, and Qatar, where the foreign ministry spokesman said it was a “deal for hope” and the “last chance for peace.”
The first phase lasting six weeks should see a total of 33 Israeli hostages held by Hamas exchanged for about 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees from Gaza.
Israeli forces will also withdraw from densely populated areas of Gaza, displaced Palestinians will be allowed to begin returning to their homes, and hundreds of aid lorries will be allowed into the territory each day.
Negotiations for the second phase – which will see the remaining hostages released, a full Israeli troop withdrawal, and “the restoration of sustainable calm” – should start in just over two weeks.
The third and final stage will involve the reconstruction of Gaza, which could take years and the return of any remaining hostages’ bodies.
The ceasefire seemed fragile and uncertain until the very last moment on Sunday.
It was due to start at 08:30 local time (06:30 GMT), but the Israeli government said Hamas had not delivered the names of the first hostages to be freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas said the delay was caused by “technical field reasons,” adding that it was still committed to the agreement.
The Hamas-run Civil Defence Agency said 19 people were killed and 36 were wounded in Israeli air and artillery strikes across Gaza during the delay.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it struck Hamas military infrastructure and armed fighters in vehicles.
The ceasefire eventually took effect at 11:15, after the Israeli government said it had received the hostages’ names.
The government later identified them as Emily Damari, 28, who was abducted from Kibbutz Kfar Aza during Hamas’s 7 October attack on southern Israel; Doron Steinbrecher, 31, who was also kidnapped in Kfar Aza; and Romi Gonen, 24, who was abducted from the Nova music festival.
At around 17:15, the IDF said the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had “communicated that the three Israeli hostages were transferred to them and are on their way toward IDF and ISA (Shin Bet security service) forces in the Gaza Strip.”
About 40 minutes later, the IDF announced that the released women had crossed into Israeli territory, accompanied by Israeli special forces.
They were first taken to a military base in southern Israel, where they were reunited with their mothers and underwent an initial medical assessment.
From there, they were flown by helicopter to Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv, where the rest of their families were waiting. Doctors there said the women were in stable condition and would be monitored for a few days.
The IDF said three to four additional hostages would be released each week during the rest of the ceasefire deal’s first phase.
Ninety prisoners, the majority of them women, should be freed by Israel in return for the first three hostages.
“After so much pain, death, and loss of life, today the guns in Gaza have gone silent,” President Biden said, adding “Now it falls to the next administration to help implement this deal. Success is going to require persistence.”
Trump’s incoming National Security Adviser Mike Waltz warned that if Hamas reneged on the ceasefire the US would support Israel. He also said it would be unacceptable for Hamas to ever govern Gaza.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said: “Unfortunately, we haven’t met the objective of dismantling Hamas’s military and governmental capabilities… But we are committed to doing so.”
However, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and two other ministers from the right-right Jewish Power party, Yitzhak Wasserlauf and Amichai Eliyahu, said on Sunday that they had resigned in protest.
Ben-Gvir said his party will not try to bring down Netanyahu’s governing coalition in parliament, where it now has a razor-thin majority.
The IDF launched a massive military campaign to destroy Hamas, proscribed as a terrorist organization by Israel, the US, and others, in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.
More than 46,910 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry. Most of the 2.3 million population has also been displaced, there is widespread destruction, and there are severe shortages of food, fuel, medicine, and shelter due to a struggle to get aid to those in need.
Israel says 91 of the hostages are still being held by Hamas, of whom 34 are presumed dead. In addition, there are three Israelis who were abducted before the war, one of whom is dead.
On Sunday morning, the Israeli military announced that special forces had recovered the body of Staff Sgt Oron Shaul, an Israeli soldier who was killed in the 2014 war in Gaza.