Israeli hostages and Palestinian inmates are released as part of the Israel-Hama

Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal begins with release of Israeli hostages, Palestinian prisoners.

By Lucia Suarez Sang, Haley  Ott
Three Israeli hostages were released Sunday as part of a long-awaited ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. They are the first of 33 that Hamas is  scheduled to  release in the first phase of the  deal.
Early Monday, more than seven hours later, Israel released 90 Palestinian prisoners and  detainees.
With the help of the Red Cross, the Israeli hostages were transferred to the Israel Defense Forces and  the Israel Security Authority  shortly after 5:30 p.m. IDF special forces and ISA forces  escorted the freed hostages  from Gaza. "Commanders and soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces  greet and embrace the  freed hostages as they  return home to the State of Israel," the agencies  said.
The freed hostages were confirmed  to be Romi Gonen,  24, Doron  Steinbrecher, 31, and Emily  Damari, 28.

From left, Emily Damari, Doron Steinbrecher and Romi Gonan are  pictured in photos released by the Hostage and Missing Families Forum on Sunday,  Jan. 19,  2025. Hostage and Missing Families  Forum.
Israeli authorities said the freed hostages underwent initial medical evaluations at a reception point in southern Israel  upon their return. After  these checks, they boarded a military helicopter  that took them to other  hospitals. A large bus carrying dozens of Palestinian  prisoners pulled up outside the gates of Israel's Ofer prison, just outside the West Bank city of  Ramallah.
The Israeli army, which occupies the West Bank,  has warned Palestinians against  any public  celebrations, but crowds  gathered on the buses after they left the prison,  with some people climbing on top or waving flags, including  Hamas flags.
There were fireworks and  boos and  chants of "God is great."  The freed prisoners were  lifted onto  each other's shoulders or  hugged.
PALESTINIAN-ISRAELI CONFLICT - NECESSARY PRISON LABOR
Palestinians celebrate the release of  about 90 prisoners  released by Israel in the early hours of  January 20, 2025  when they arrived on a Red Cross bus in the occupied West Bank town of Beitunia, on the outskirts of  Ramallah. According to a list provided by the Palestinian Authority's Prisoners'  Affairs Commission, all of those released are women or  teenagers, the youngest  being 15 years old. Israel  arrested them for what it said were  violations related to  Israeli security,  ranging from  stone-throwing to more serious  charges such as attempted  murder.
The Israeli military released a video of the  mothers of three Israeli  women watching footage of their  daughters returning from an Israeli soldier's phone  to the  pick-up point.
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The Israeli hostages  were reunited with family members after  being released by Hamas as part of a ceasefire and  hostage-free agreement between Israel and the militant  group. IDF
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said they had endured a  terrible ordeal. "They are, we all know, they have been through  hell." "They came from darkness  to light, from  slavery to  freedom," he  said.
"They appear to be in good  health," President Biden said in brief remarks  after arriving in  Israel.
Brett McGurk, the Biden  administration's National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, said Sunday on  "Face the Nation with Margaret  Brennan" that he had spoken to his Israeli counterparts about the  hostages' living conditions.
"I know  they are alive," McGurk said.  "They have been held in deplorable conditions  for 470 days, but the Israelis have a very good system  for taking care of them and  they will receive the care they need and be reunited with their families."
The ceasefire officially began  early Sunday after a last-minute delay of  nearly three hours.  Fighting continued past 8:30 a.m.  Eastern time, with the Israeli military  saying Hamas had  not provided the names of the first three hostages to be released,  in accordance with the terms of the  deal.
In Gaza,  warplanes and drones disappeared from the skies as the deal  went into effect, and at least 191 aid trucks  had begun entering Gaza through the Karem Shalom crossing.
Al-Qassam Brigades  hand over 3 Israeli hostages to  the Red Cross
Al-Qassam Brigades hand over 3 Israeli hostages to the Red Cross  in al-Saraya as part of  the first phase of  the ceasefire and prisoner  exchange agreement between Israel and  Hamas in Gaza City,  Gaza, on January 19,  2025. Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu via Getty Images
The first phase of the ceasefire  requires Hamas to release 33 hostages  within a six-week period. They include women, children and hostages over  50, according to an early draft by CBS  News.
The plan  is for three female hostages  to be  released alive on  the first day. Four hostages will be released on  the seventh day and the remaining 26 over the next five  weeks.
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A crowd celebrates in Gaza after a ceasefire and  hostage-free agreement came into effect on  Sunday, January 19,  2025. McGurk said the deal was  not "completed last  week."
"It's a detailed,  comprehensive deal that leaves nothing to  chance," McGurk said.  "And even last night, I  stayed up until 4  a.m. when  it finally  came together to make sure everything went  as planned."
Rep. Mike Waltz, who will serve as national security adviser in the  new Trump administration, said  on "Face the Nation" Sunday that  "this deal would  never have happened  if President Trump  had not been  elected."
Waltz said  that "if Hamas  goes back to this deal,  they pull out,  they move the  pillars, whatever it takes, we will support Israel in what it  needs to do, number  one and number two, Hamas will never  rule Gaza."
"President Trump's plan and his first term, his plan for the Middle East and his plan for Israel and Palestine had a two-state  path with all kinds of very important  conditions that had to be  set up in  advance," he said.  "Stop the radicalization of the next generation of Palestinian  youth." Very  specific elements of that plan  on how things would be  divided, but I think we can  move on to the next  phase of the Abraham  Accords."
On Wednesday, Mr. Biden and  the prime minister  of Qatar separately announced the deal after a week of intense negotiations  brokered by Qatar, the  United States and Egypt. In a  message on Truth Social,  Mr. Trump welcomed the  imminent release of the three hostages.  "The hostages will start coming out today! Three wonderful young women will be  the first," he wrote  on Sunday morning. In a rare meeting  on the Jewish Sabbath,  the full  Israeli cabinet voted to approve the deal. Ceasefire  agreement reached in Israel-Gaza  war Displaced Palestinians celebrate the announcement of a ceasefire and  an agreement for the exchange of hostages and prisoners between Hamas and Israel in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on January 19, 2025. The  agreement has sparked a flurry of activity and a  new wave of  emotion, with families wondering whether  the hostages  will be returned alive or dead. How the  hostages will  be released, according to the negotiated  agreement, will be  done in three phases. The first phase will last 42 days,  with negotiations  for the  much more difficult second phase  expected to begin  in just over two  weeks. After six weeks of the first phase,  the Israeli security cabinet will decide how to proceed. In total, Hamas would release 33 hostages during the first phase. Hamas  began releasing hostages on the first day, initially returning three to Israel, according to  an early draft  from CBS News. On the seventh day, Hamas  released four hostages. Hamas  is to release three hostages every seven days, starting with the  living and then  continuing with the return  of the bodies of those who died. Aid  trucks enter the Rafah  crossing as a ceasefire begins in the Israel-Hamas war. In each exchange, Palestinian prisoners will be released by Israel  upon the  safe arrival of the hostages. Mr. Biden said  on Wednesday that Americans would be among the hostages released in the first phase of the  deal, but he did not specify  their names or how soon they would be  released. In  the first phase, Israel will release at least 1,700 Palestinian prisoners, including 1,167  Gazans who  did not  participate in the  Hamas attack on October 7, 2023,  which triggered the war. All women and children under  the age of 19 from Gaza held by Israel will be  released during this phase. The  remaining hostages in Gaza, including male Israeli soldiers,  will be released in a second phase that will be negotiated during the  first phase. Hamas has said it will not release the remaining  prisoners without a lasting ceasefire and a  complete Israeli withdrawal. When  will the fight stop? During the first  phase of the ceasefire, Israeli troops  will withdraw to a buffer zone about  800 meters wide  in Gaza, along its borders with Israel.  Meanwhile, between 8:30 a.m. and the ceasefire took  effect, Israeli fire killed at least 26 people, according to  the Gaza Ministry of Health. He did not  specify whether they were civilians or  combatants. The military has warned people to stay away from Israeli forces as they  withdraw to a buffer zone  in Gaza. Displaced Palestinians  begin to return to their  homes after the  effect of the  cease-fire Displaced Palestinians, refugees in Khan Yunis, begin to return to their homes after the cease-fire agreement and  exchange of hostages and prisoners between Hamas and Israel. Despite  reservations and uncertainty,  the impatience was high.  "The first thing I  have to do is go and  see my  house," Mohamed Mahdi, a father of two displaced from  Gaza's Zaytoun neighborhood, told  The Associated Press. He also  looks forward to seeing  his family in southern Gaza, but  he is  "always worried that one of us  might be martyred before we  meet." Aid  began slowly  arriving in Gaza on Sunday. Save the Children  President and CEO Janti Soeripto told  Face the  Nation that as of Sunday afternoon local time,  his organization had  "60 trucks waiting in  this line, all loaded with warm  clothes, shoes, for  children, medical kits, malnutrition  treatments, that's what we have." Save the  Children is trying to connect 17,000 displaced children  from Gaza with their families, which Soeripto described as a  "long and  difficult process, which also  requires real, sensitive and professional social  workers." "It's a huge  effort," Soeripto said.  "You know,  it's a real moment of hope and  danger at the same  time." The attack  carried out by Hamas on  October 1 As of Sept. 7, 2023,  about 1,200 people  had been killed in Israel and 250  others were being held captive.  About 100 hostages  are still being held in Gaza. Israel  has responded with an offensive that has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, according to the  Hamas-led Gaza  Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and  militants but says women and children  account for more than half  of the dead. -- The Associated Press contributed to this report. Emily Mae Czachor contributed to this report.

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