Hamas releases first three Israeli hostages as Gaza cease-fire continues | Israel-Palestine Conflicts News

The first phase of the agreement should last 42 days and see the release of prisoners and additional prisoners.

Israeli authorities have confirmed that Hamas has handed over the first three female hostages as a ceasefire in the war-torn Gaza Strip comes into effect.

The Israeli army and the internal security agency Shin Bet in a joint statement on Sunday evening said that Romi Gonen, 24, Emily Damari, 28, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, were handed over to the Red Cross.

Red Cross vehicles left Gaza City in the heavily besieged northern area after Hamas brought hostages to Saraya Square as a crowd gathered.

The ceasefire agreement is expected to start in three phases and includes sending more aid trucks to Gaza to ease the crisis in the area. The first phase will last 42 days as Israeli forces withdraw from parts of Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that he will continue to fight as some lawmakers in his government led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir resigned in protest.

Thousands of Palestinians celebrated a long-awaited ceasefire that could improve conditions in Gaza, after more than 15 months of Israeli attacks that have killed more than 46,000 Palestinians and left thousands missing.

Reporting from as-Saraya Square, Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim Khalili described scenes of joy among the crowd.

He said: “They are very happy. “There are celebrations everywhere after 15 months of war that destroyed everything. This is a historic moment.”

The hostages are expected to be immediately taken to the Israeli army for identification, and then taken to a hospital in the center of Israel. They will stay there for at least four days for psychological and medical evaluations after they are reunited with their families.

Israeli prison staff, as well as the Israeli military, have been reporting this week on how they were preparing for the release of the hostages.

About 250 people were kidnapped during a Hamas attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. About 100 hostages remain in Gaza after some were released in late 2023 or their bodies were found, although it is not clear how many are still alive.

Al Jazeera has obtained a list of 90 Palestinian prisoners who will be released in exchange for three Israeli hostages.

They are all from the West Bank that eats and lives in East Jerusalem, and the list includes many women and a few children.

This list also includes the name of Khalida Jarrar, the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the West Bank. Others on the list include at least 12 young Palestinian men, some of whom are under the age of 19, and minors.

According to Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim, many minors have been arrested on charges related to throwing stones at Israeli soldiers.

“We speak in simple sentences,” he said. “The list of prisoners, hundreds of names have been released, most of them are in administrative detention, which is a strategy used by the Israeli policy to keep people in prison forever without charges. These administrative prisoners are being renewed again and again.”

Hours before the operation began, Israel announced that it had recovered the body of Oron Shaul, a soldier who was killed in the 2014 Israel-Hamas war and whose remains have been held ever since.