Israel-Hamas Truce Holding After First Hostage-Prisoner Swap 

People react as a bus carrying released Palestinian prisoners from the Ofer Israeli military prison arrives in Ramallah, early 20 January 2025, amid a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas. (EPA)
People react as a bus carrying released Palestinian prisoners from the Ofer Israeli military prison arrives in Ramallah, early 20 January 2025, amid a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas. (EPA)
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Israel-Hamas Truce Holding After First Hostage-Prisoner Swap 

People react as a bus carrying released Palestinian prisoners from the Ofer Israeli military prison arrives in Ramallah, early 20 January 2025, amid a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas. (EPA)
People react as a bus carrying released Palestinian prisoners from the Ofer Israeli military prison arrives in Ramallah, early 20 January 2025, amid a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas. (EPA)

A fragile ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war was holding Monday, following the dramatic exchange of three hostages for 90 Palestinian prisoners in an agreement aimed at ending more than 15 months of war in Gaza. 

The three hostages released Sunday, all women, were reunited with their families and taken to hospital in central Israel where a doctor said they were in stable condition.  

Hours later in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinian prisoners released by Israel left Ofer prison on buses, with jubilant crowds celebrating their arrival.  

As the ceasefire took effect, thousands of displaced, war-weary Palestinians set off across the devastated Gaza Strip to return home.  

The truce began on the eve of the inauguration for a second term as US president of Donald Trump, who has claimed credit for the agreement after months of fruitless negotiations.  

In the northern area of Jabalia, hundreds streamed down a sandy path, heading to an apocalyptic landscape piled with rubble and destroyed buildings. 

"We are finally in our home. There is no home left, just rubble, but it's our home," said Rana Mohsen, 43.  

The initial 42-day truce was brokered by mediators Qatar, the United States and Egypt.  

It should enable a surge of sorely needed humanitarian aid into Gaza, as more Israeli hostages are released in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli custody.  

Under the agreement, Israeli forces should leave some areas of Gaza as the parties begin negotiating the terms of a permanent ceasefire.  

Reunited 

The three hostages, Emily Damari, Romi Gonen and Doron Steinbrecher, were taken back to Israel by security forces after Hamas fighters handed them over to the Red Cross in a bustling square in Gaza City, surrounded by a sea of gunmen in fatigues and balaclavas. 

"After 471 days Emily is finally home," said her mother Mandy Damari, but "for too many other families the impossible wait continues".  

Steinbrecher's family said in a statement that "our heroic Dodo, who survived 471 days in Hamas captivity, begins her rehabilitation journey today".  

In Tel Aviv, there was elation among the crowd who had waited for hours for the news of their release. 

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group hailed their return as "a beacon of light", while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said they had emerged "from darkness".  

During this initial truce, 33 Israeli hostages, 31 of whom were taken by fighters during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack, are due to be returned from Gaza in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians.  

Of those, more than 230 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences for deadly attacks against Israelis will be deported, according to a list made public by Israeli authorities.  

Two Hamas officials said the prisoners would be deported mainly to Qatar or Türkiye. 

The Israel Prison Service confirmed the release of 90 prisoners early Monday.  

In the town of Beitunia, near Ofer prison, Palestinians cheered and chanted as buses carrying them arrived, with some climbing atop and unfurling a Hamas flag.  

"All the prisoners being released today feel like family to us. They are part of us, even if they're not blood relatives," Amanda Abu Sharkh, 23, told AFP. 

The next hostage-prisoner swap would take place on Saturday, a senior Hamas official told AFP.  

"More families are waiting anxiously for their loved ones to come home," said International Committee of the Red Cross president Mirjana Spoljaric, calling on all sides to "adhere to their commitments to ensure the next operations can take place safely".  

'Nothing left' 

Minutes after the truce began, the United Nations said the first trucks carrying desperately needed humanitarian aid had entered the Palestinian territory.  

UN relief chief Tom Fletcher said 630 trucks had entered into Gaza, with 300 of them headed to the north of the territory. 

The truce is intended to pave the way for a permanent end to the war, but a second phase has yet to be finalized.  

Thousands of Palestinians carrying tents, clothes and their personal belongings were seen going home on Sunday, after the war displaced the vast majority of Gaza's population of 2.4 million.  

In Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, Umm Hasan al-Buzom, 70, said she would even "crawl my way back home" if needed.  

'Commitment' 

The World Food Program said it was moving full throttle to get food to as many Gazans as possible.  

Netanyahu has called the first phase a "temporary ceasefire" and said Israel had US support to return to the war if necessary.  

Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said its adherence to the truce would be "contingent on the enemy's commitment". 

The war's only previous truce, for one week in November 2023, also saw the release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.  

Hamas's October 7 attack, the deadliest in Israel's history, resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.  

Of the 251 people taken hostage, 91 are still in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.  

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Sunday that the death toll in the war between Israel and Hamas had reached 46,913. 



Gaza Civil Defense Describes Medic Killings as 'Summary Executions'

A video recovered from the phone of one of the slain aid workers, released by the Red Crescent, appeared to contradict the Israeli military's account - AFP
A video recovered from the phone of one of the slain aid workers, released by the Red Crescent, appeared to contradict the Israeli military's account - AFP
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Gaza Civil Defense Describes Medic Killings as 'Summary Executions'

A video recovered from the phone of one of the slain aid workers, released by the Red Crescent, appeared to contradict the Israeli military's account - AFP
A video recovered from the phone of one of the slain aid workers, released by the Red Crescent, appeared to contradict the Israeli military's account - AFP

Gaza's civil defense agency on Monday accused the Israeli military of carrying out "summary executions" in the killing of 15 rescue workers last month, rejecting the findings of an internal probe by the army.

The medics and other rescue workers were killed when responding to distress calls near Gaza's southern city of Rafah early on March 23, days into Israel's renewed offensive in the Hamas-run territory, AFP reported.

Among those killed were eight Red Crescent staff members, six from the Gaza civil defense rescue agency and one employee of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, according to the UN humanitarian agency OCHA and Palestinian rescuers.

"The video filmed by one of the paramedics proves that the Israeli occupation's narrative is false and demonstrates that it carried out summary executions," Mohammed Al-Mughair, a civil defense official, told AFP, accusing Israel of seeking to "circumvent" its obligations under international law.

Following the shooting, the Red Crescent released a video recovered from the phone of one of the victims. It does not show executions, but it does directly contradict the version of events initially put forward by the Israeli military.

In particular, the video shows clearly that the ambulances were travelling with sirens, flashing lights and headlights on. The military had claimed the ambulances were travelling "suspiciously" and without lights.

- Operational failures -

The incident drew international condemnation, including concern about possible war crimes from UN human rights commissioner Volker Turk.

An Israeli military investigation into the incident released on Sunday "found no evidence to support claims of execution" or "indiscriminate fire" by its troops, but admitted to operational failures and said it was firing a field commander.

It said six of those killed were militants, revising an earlier claim that nine of the men were fighters.

The dead, who were buried in sand by Israeli forces, were only recovered several days after the attack from what the UN human rights agency OCHA described as a "mass grave".

The Palestine Red Crescent Society denounced the report as "full of lies".

"It is invalid and unacceptable, as it justifies the killing and shifts responsibility to a personal error in the field command when the truth is quite different," Nebal Farsakh, spokesperson for the Red Crescent, told AFP.

The Israeli investigation said there were three shooting incidents in the area on that day.

In the first, soldiers shot at what they believed to be a Hamas vehicle.

In the second, around an hour later, troops fired "on suspects emerging from a fire truck and ambulances", the military said.

The probe determined that the fire in the first two incidents resulted from an "operational misunderstanding by the troops".

In the third incident, the troops fired at a UN vehicle "due to operational errors in breach of regulations", the military said.