TEL AVIV — A long-awaited ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas went into effect in the Gaza Strip Sunday morning, aiming to halt Israeli military operations that have killed more than 46,800 Palestinians and laid waste to the enclave and seeing the gradual release of hostages who have been in Hamas captivity for 15 months.
Many hope the hard-fought reprieve from the fighting will usher in an end to the 15-month war.
Gazans took the rare opportunity to see what, if anything, was left of their homes. NBC News crews in Gaza captured large crowds of families moving near Rafah, in southern Gaza, mostly on foot.
One family was riding on a cart pulled by a donkey. “To Rafah, to Rafah, inside, in Gaza,” a smiling young boy exclaims as he steered the cart.
And three female hostages were handed over by Hamas to the Red Cross just after 5 p.m. local time, to be transferred to Israel.
The released hostages are all young women: Doron Steinbrecher, 31, taken from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on Oct. 7, a veterinary nurse; Romi Gonen, 24, taken from the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7; and Emily Damari, 28, a British-Israeli citizen taken from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on Oct. 7 and a key figure in the kibbutz’s youth community.
Four additional living hostages are expected to be released in seven days, the Coordinator for Hostages, Returnees, and Missing Persons in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said. It added that their families would be informed of the names of those to be released 24 hours prior to that date.
Israel is set to release 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees as part of the agreement, all of whom are children and women, according to the Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs.
Initially set for 8:30 a.m. local time, the pause in fighting was delayed by a few hours and began after 11:15 a.m. Gaza’s Civil Defense agency reported that at least 19 people were killed and 36 injured earlier after the delay was announced.
Under the plan’s first phase of the agreement, 33 hostages will be released in exchange for 1,904 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. At least two Americans, Sagui Dekel-Chen and Keith Siegel, are expected to be among the first to be set free, with fellow dual national Edan Alexander to follow in the second stage of the ceasefire.
For every hostage released, 30 Palestinian prisoners will be freed — 50 if the hostage is a soldier.
Israel launched its assault on Gaza after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led terror attacks in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage, according to Israeli officials, marking a major escalation in a decadeslong conflict. The attack shattered Israel’s sense of security, while the plight of the hostages and their families became an open national wound.
The war in Gaza and its devastating civilian toll have thrust the plight of the Palestinians into international headlines and triggered international condemnation of Israel. In November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants over alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif.
A total of 94 people seized and taken into Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, are believed to be in Hamas’ captivity, along with four people who have been held by Hamas since 2014. At least 34 of those taken hostage during the Hamas-led attacks are understood to be dead, while two of the abductees taken captive in 2014 are also dead.
The ceasefire is expected to pause more than a year of ferocious Israeli bombings, but also open the floodgates to desperately needed aid, with up to 600 trucks a day to enter the enclave, according to the World Health Organization. A shortage of food, medicine and fuel, plus deadly violence, has created a spiraling humanitarian crisis marked by widespread hunger and sickness.
Nearly 740 Palestinian prisoners and 1,167 Palestinians who were detained in Gaza since the start of the war are expected to be released in exchange for hostages, with children expected to be among them.
If the ceasefire does go ahead as planned, it will bring relief — and possible closure — to families of the hostages trapped in the enclave under terrifying and dangerous conditions, as well as to Palestinian families whose loved ones have been detained by the Israeli military.
Negotiations over a second stage are expected to get underway by the 16th day of the first phase. President Joe Biden said Wednesday that this round would aim to bring about a “permanent end to the war.”
