Jerusalem: Following the trade of three Israeli detainees for ninety Palestinians in an arrangement intended to put an end to the more than 15-month-long conflict in Gaza, Israel and Hamas were maintaining a tenuous ceasefire on Monday.
After being reunited with their families, the three women Israeli detainees who were freed on Sunday were brought to a hospital in central Israel, where a physician reported that their health was stable.
Israeli-released Palestinian inmates departed Ofer prison on busses hours later, welcomed by cheering crowds in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Thousands of war-weary, displaced Palestinians began traveling across the ravaged Gaza Strip to return home as soon as the ceasefire went into force.
On the eve of Donald Trump taking office for a second term as US president, the truce was established. If everything proceeds as planned, the parties would discuss a permanent ceasefire—which has not yet been agreed upon—during the first six weeks of the truce.
Hundreds of Palestinians were flowing through a post-apocalyptic landscape in Jabalia, one of the worst affected districts in northern Gaza, despite the dangers.
“We’ve arrived at our house at last. “It’s our home, but there’s only rubble left,” said 43-year-old Rana Mohsen.
Mediators Qatar, the United States, and Egypt mediated the first 42-day truce.
As Israeli soldiers withdraw from some regions and more Israeli detainees are freed in return for Palestinians held by Israel, it should allow a flood of desperately needed humanitarian aid into Gaza.
In exchange for some 1,900 Palestinians, 33 Israeli prisoners are expected to be released from Gaza during the first phase of the truce.
reunited
In a busy square in Gaza City on Sunday, Hamas soldiers turned over the first three released, Emily Damari, Romi Gonen, and Doron Steinbrecher, to the Red Cross, who then returned to Israel.
After losing two fingers, Emily was “doing much better than any of us could have expected,” according to Damari’s mother, who stated on Monday that her daughter was “the happiest girl in the world; she has her life back.”
A campaign group hailed their homecoming as “a beacon of light,” and the crowd in Tel Aviv, which had been waiting for hours for the news of their release, was ecstatic.
The Israeli government was criticized by journalist Avi Issacharoff for failing “to engage in any way on the ‘day after’ the war.”
The Israel Prison Service announced early Monday that 90 Palestinian inmates had been released after the three inmates returned.
As busses carrying inmates arrived in the West Bank village of Beitunia, next to Ofer prison, Palestinians rejoiced and chanted, with some even scaling a Hamas flag and raising it.
We consider every prisoner being released today to be family. Even if they are not our biological family, they are a part of us,” 23-year-old Amanda Abu Sharkh told AFP.
Abdul Aziz Muhammad Atawneh, one of the released prisoners, called jail “hell, hell, hell.”
According to a senior Hamas official, the next prisoner exchange should happen on Saturday.
Rebuilding Gaza
Hamas declared, “Gaza will rise again to rebuild what the occupation has destroyed, with its great people and its resilience.”
Trump’s return to the White House is a ray of hope for many Israelis who long for a world free from war and the release of detainees still detained in Gaza.
His homecoming has long been anticipated by many Israelis, even before the ceasefire.
In the hours after the truce began, 630 trucks bringing much-needed aid entered Gaza, with 300 of them going to the northern part of the enclave, according to UN relief chief Tom Fletcher.
During the first ten days of the truce, 12.5 million liters of petroleum would enter Gaza, according to Qatar.
Food for Palestinians is being delivered at full speed, according to the World Food Programme. “Our goal is to reach one million people as quickly as possible,” stated Carl Skau, a WFP representative.