Hamas freed a first batch of hostages, seized in the deadliest attack in
Israel’s history under a deal that saw a temporary truce take hold in
war-ravaged Gaza, on Friday.
At least, 13 Israeli hostages captured during Palestinian militants’
cross-border raids were back in Israeli territory where they would undergo
medical checks before being reunited with their families, the army said.
They included four children and six elderly women, a list issued by the
Israeli prime minister’s office showed.
A convoy of Red Cross vehicles was earlier seen crossing the border
between Gaza and Egypt, with some of the passengers waving, after Hamas handed
over the hostages to the humanitarian organisation.
Israel is set to free three times as many Palestinian prisoners – women
and teenage boys – under a deal that followed weeks of talks involving Israel,
Palestinian militant groups, Qatar, Egypt and the United States.
Key mediator Qatar confirmed Hamas had on Friday released a total of 24
hostages and that Israel had freed 39 women and children from its prisons.
“Those released include 13 Israeli citizens, some of whom are dual
citizens, in addition to 10 Thai citizens and a Filipino citizen,” its foreign
ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari said.
A White House official said “we do not expect Americans to be among the
first group released today but remain hopeful that there will be Americans
among the 50 released”.
Pictures released earlier by the Israeli army showed bright pink and blue
headphones sitting on the seats of a helicopter ready for the released hostages
to use, along with toys and teddy bears waiting at a reception centre where
they were being taken to.
During a four-day truce, at least 50 hostages are expected to be freed,
leaving an estimated 190 in the hands of Palestinian militants.
In exchange, 150 Palestinians prisoners are expected to be released.
Of the 39 released on Friday, 28 were freed in the occupied West Bank, an
AFP correspondent saw, while the other 11 were on their way to annexed east
Jerusalem.
Hamas broke through Gaza’s militarised border with Israel on October 7 to
kill, according to Israeli officials, about 1,200 people and seize around 240
Israeli and foreign hostages.
‘Going Home’
The pause in fighting triggered a mass movement of thousands of Gazans
who had sought refuge in schools and hospitals from relentless Israeli
bombardment begun after attacks by Hamas militants.
“I’m going home,” Omar Jibrin, 16, told AFP after he emerged from a
hospital in the south of the Gaza Strip where he and eight family members had
sought refuge.
In Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza where many Palestinians fled, a cacophony
of car horns and ambulance sirens has replaced the sound of war.
For Khaled al-Halabi, the truce is “a chance to breathe” after nearly
seven weeks of war.
Halabi had taken refuge in Rafah but is from Gaza City in the north, much
of which has been reduced to rubble.
Israel’s retaliatory air, artillery and naval strikes alongside a ground
offensive have killed about 15,000 people, most of them civilians, the Hamas
government in Gaza said.
Jens Laerke, spokesman for the United Nations humanitarian agency, OCHA,
expressed hope that the pause “leads to a longer-term humanitarian ceasefire
for the benefit of the people of Gaza, Israel and beyond.”
He repeated the need for access across Gaza, especially in the north “where
the damage and the humanitarian needs are the greatest”.
According to the UN, 1.7 million of Gaza’s 2.4 million people are
estimated to have been displaced by the fighting.
Now, thousands of them are trying to get home.
In the morning, a few apparent gunshots were heard and dark plumes of
smoke rose periodically over northern Gaza, an AFPTV livecam showed, but the
truce appeared to be holding in the afternoon.
Carefully prepared
Ziv Agmon, legal adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s
office, told reporters before the hostages were freed that they would be
received individually or in groups by the Red Cross, taken across the border
and handed to the Israeli army.
From El-Arish, in the Sinai, they would be flown to Israel, an Egyptian
security source said.
Agmon said soldiers had been carefully prepared to receive potentially
deeply traumatised women and children.
After medical examinations, the former captives will be able to telephone
family members before reunions later at Israeli medical facilities, he added.
AFP has confirmed the identities of 210 of the roughly 240 hostages.
At least 35 of those seized were children, with 18 of them aged 10 or
under at the time of their abduction.
Hamas earlier released four women and Israeli forces rescued another. Two
other captives, including a woman soldier, were found dead by Israeli troops in
Gaza.
AFP
