Hamas hands over first Israeli hostages under ceasefire deal

TEL AVIV/GAZA - Three Israeli women have been freed by Hamas, the first of several dozen hostages set to be released under a new ceasefire deal in Gaza.

The three women – Ms Romi Gonen, Ms Doron Steinbrecher and Ms Emily Damari, who is also a British national – were transferred by the Red Cross to the Israel Defence Forces in the Gaza Strip and have crossed the border into Israel, according to statements on Jan 19. 

They have arrived at a reception point in southern Israel, where they will be reunited with their mothers and undergo an initial medical assessment.

From there they will be flown by military helicopters to hospitals across Israel.

“The Israeli government embraces the three returnees. Their families were informed by the appointed officials that they joined our (IDF) forces,” said a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. “The Israeli government is committed to the return of all abductees and missing people.”

Ms Steinbrecher, 31, and Ms Damari, 28, were kidnapped from the Kfar Aza communal settlement on Oct 7, 2023, while Ms Gonen, 24, was abducted at the Nova music festival the same day.

Israel will now begin preparations for the immediate release of 90 Palestinian prisoners, 30 for each of the hostages freed.

The list comprises 69 women and 21 men, some of whom are minors. 

The transfer comes hours after the start of a

Qatari- and Egyptian-mediated deal,

backed by Washington, that stipulates an initial six-week truce, during which 33 hostages will be freed by Hamas in return for hundreds of Palestinians jailed by Israel. Jan 19’s swop is the first to take place as part of the agreement. 

US President Joe Biden told reporters on Jan 19 that the ceasefire deal he helped broker was

“one of the toughest negotiations”

in his career, and said he had heard the released captives were in good condition.

“Today, the guns in Gaza have gone silent,” Mr Biden said. “Today, we’re seeing hostages being released – three Israeli women held against their will in the dark tunnels for 470 days.” 

Mr Biden said he anticipated several hundred trucks of aid would enter the Gaza Strip on Jan 19, and that the ultimate success of the deal would “require persistence and continuing support for our friends in the region, and the belief in diplomacy backed by deterrence” by the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.

Trump, whose Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff joined negotiations in their concluding days, celebrated the release in a social media post a day ahead of his inauguration.

“Hostages starting to come out today! Three wonderful young women will be first,” Trump wrote.

On Jan 19, thousands of ordinary Israelis gathered outside the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, in what has become known as Hostages Square, to watch and wait as the three women were returned. 

Mr Avichai Brodutch, whose wife and three children were abducted to Gaza and released after 51 days more than a year ago, said he has only an inkling of what the families expecting their daughters home after 15 months have endured.

Two of the women coming back on Jan 19 are from Mr Brodutch’s collective community, Kfar Aza, as are three men due to be returned later in the process.

Mr Brodutch said when he got the call in November 2023 that his family was due out later that day, he rushed to Kfar Aza, which was still in ruins from the Hamas attack the previous month, and grabbed special objects – blankets, dolls, his wife’s handbag – to greet them when they met.

At the hospital they were taken to, he said: “I waited when the elevators opened, I saw my children coming out the doors, it was unimaginable. I got my family reborn. They were thin and full of lice but speaking and breathing. Hostages live with wounds in their souls for their whole lives. But we have lived a miracle and I thank God for it every day.” BLOOMBERG