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Palestinians react during the arrival of buses carrying Palestinians who were released from Israeli jails in the Israeli-occupied West Bank as part of a hostages-for-prisoners swap and a ceasefire deal in Gaza between Hamas and Israel. Follow the latest developments, live. Photograph: Mussa Qawasma/Reuters
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The Israeli hostages released on the first day of the ceasefire
Three women held captive for 471 days by Hamas were released as part of a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian militant group.
Romi Gonen, 24
Romi Gonen was kidnapped from the Nova music festival in southern Israel on 7 October, 2023. That morning, Gonen’s mother, Merav, and her eldest daughter spent nearly five hours speaking to Gonen as militants marauded through the festival grounds. Gonen told her family that roads clogged with abandoned cars made escape impossible and that she would seek shelter in some bushes before she was taken hostage and held by Hamas for 15 months.
Her mother Merav Gonen has been one of the most outspoken voices advocating for the return of the hostages, appearing nearly daily on Israeli news programs and traveling abroad on missions.
Emily Damari, 28
Emily Damari is a British-Israeli citizen kidnapped from her apartment on Kibbutz Kfar Aza, a communal farming village hit hard by Hamas’ assault. She lived in a small apartment in a neighbourhood for young adults, the closest part of the kibbutz to Gaza. Militants broke through the border fence of the kibbutz and ransacked the neighborhood.
On Sunday, her mother Mandy released a statement of thanks for supporters “who never stopped saying her name.”
Doron Steinbrecher, 31
Doron Steinbrecher is a veterinary nurse who loves animals, and a neighbour to Damari in Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Steinbrecher holds both Israeli and Romanian citizenship.
On the morning of 7 October, 2023, Steinbrecher called her mother, according to a report by the Associated Press. “Mom, I’m scared. I’m hiding under the bed and I hear them trying to enter my apartment,” her brother, Dor, recalled. She was able to send a voice message to her friends. “They’ve got me! They’ve got me! They’ve got me!” in the moments of her abduction.
Steinbrecher was featured in a video released by Hamas on 26 January, 2024, along with two female Israeli soldiers. Her brother said the video gave them hope that she was alive but sparked concern because she looked tired, weak, and gaunt.
Who were the 90 Palestinian prisoners released on Monday?
Details are starting to emerge about the identities of the freed Palestinians.
Here is what we know so far.
The first batch of those freed included 69 women and 21 teenage boys, from the West Bank and Jerusalem, according to Hamas.
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Among those released was prominent detainee Khalida Jarrar, 62.
Jarrar is a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a secular leftist faction that was involved in attacks against Israel in the 1970s but later scaled back militant activities. Since her arrest in late 2023, she was held under indefinitely renewable administrative detention, a widely criticised practice that Israel uses against Palestinians.
“There’s this double feeling we’re living in, on the one hand, this feeling of freedom, that we thank everyone for, and on the other hand, this pain, of losing so many Palestinian martyrs,” she told The Associated Press.
Other detainees released include:
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Bushra al-Tawil, a Palestinian journalist jailed in Israel in March 2024. “The wait was extremely hard. But thank God, we were certain that at any moment we would be released,” she told Agence France-Presse.
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Shatha Jarabaa, 24, who was arrested over a social media post criticising the “brutality” of Israel’s campaign in Gaza. “I’m very happy! Thank God I’m outside. They treated me very bad in prison. It was horrible,” she told the Guardian.
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Ahmad Khsha, 18, who was arrested in January 2024 in Jenin. “They arrested me because my brother died during a shootout in Jenin. After he died, they arrested me. They raided our cells on Saturday before releasing us and threw teargas at us. They tortured us in the cell, every day. They also tortured and mistreated the women.”
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Qassem Jaafra, 17, who was given a haircut on his return home.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of major developments in the Israel-Gaza war after a long-awaited ceasefire in Gaza came into effect on Sunday.
In the hours since, hostage and prisoner exchanges have been carried out on both sides.
Here is a recap of the latest.
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Ninety Palestinian prisoners were released early on Monday as part of the ceasefire deal. Those freed from Israeli prisons included 69 women and 21 teenage boys from the West Bank and Jerusalem, according to Hamas. The prisoners, most of whom were freed from Ofer prison in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, were welcomed by thousands of people celebrating.
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It followed the release of three Israeli women held hostage by Hamas in tunnels beneath Gaza, ending a protracted ordeal that began with their violent abduction by Hamas on 7 October 2023. Among those released was joint British national Emily Damari, 28, who was freed alongside Romi Gonen, 24 and Doron Steinbrecher, 31. The women have been reunited with their mothers after being handed over by International Committee for the Red Cross.
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The three are in a “stable condition” and will be monitored for a few days, according to a news conference at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv. A member of the hospital staff, Professor Itai Pessach, said: “I’m happy to report that they are in stable condition. That allows us and them to focus on what is the most important thing for now – reuniting with the families.”
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As the fighting ceased, hundreds of aid trucks queued to enter Gaza to deliver supplies to its 2.3 million residents, 90% of whom have been displaced by the conflict, many multiple times.
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The World Health Organization says it is ready to pour much-needed aid into Gaza during the Israel-Hamas truce, but that it would need “systematic access” across the territory to do so. Much of the Gaza Strip’s health infrastructure has been destroyed by the more than year-long war.
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The first phase of the truce took effect after a three-hour delay during which Israeli warplanes and artillery pounded the Gaza Strip. The last-minute blitz killed 13 people, Palestinian health authorities said. Israel claimed it had struck terrorists although Al Jazeera reported that at least two missiles hit a family travelling on a donkey cart as they tried to return home.
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Thousands of displaced Palestinians have started to return home, many to destroyed buildings and homes in ruins. There is no detailed plan in place to govern Gaza after the war, much less rebuild it. Nine in 10 homes have been destroyed as well as schools, hospitals, shops, mosques and cemeteries.
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Under the first phase of the ceasefire deal, which is to last 42 days, the militant group has agreed to release 33 hostages including children, women (including female soldiers) and men aged over 50, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
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In the second phase, the remaining living hostages are due to be sent back and a corresponding ratio of Palestinian prisoners will be freed, and Israel will completely withdraw from the territory. The specifics are subject to further negotiations, which are due to start 16 days into the first phase.
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The third phase will address the exchange of bodies of deceased hostages and Hamas members, and a reconstruction plan for Gaza will be launched. Arrangements for future governance of the strip remain hazy.
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