Three women, including British national Emily Damari, held hostage by Hamas in Gaza's underground tunnels during the devastating 15-month conflict, have been arrested in a bid to end the conflict. was dramatically released in the first act of the Armistice.
Damari, 28, Romy Gonen, 24, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza on Sunday afternoon, ending their detention since October 7, 2023. The protracted ordeal began with Mas's violent kidnapping.
Television footage of the handover broadcast live by Al Jazeera showed a white minivan arriving at a square in Gaza City's Rimal district with three women inside.
Minutes later, the women exited the vehicle accompanied by Hamas fighters wearing green headbands and hoods, and were closely surrounded by crowds of people taking photos with their cellphones and chanting support for Hamas.
Israeli, Hamas and Red Cross officials confirmed the handover to the media shortly after 5pm local time (3pm GMT), with the Red Cross telling Israeli officials that the women were "in good health" .
The Palestinian militant group handed over three Israeli female hostages to the Red Cross on Sunday as agreed in a ceasefire with Israel, a senior Hamas official confirmed to AFP.
"The three hostages were officially handed over to the Red Cross in Salaya Square in the Al Rimar neighborhood of western Gaza City," the official said. "This was after a member of the Red Cross team met them and secured their It happens after health.”
More than half an hour later, the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet internal security agency issued a joint statement confirming the handover to Israeli forces.
"The three groups of returnees have now been handed over to the IDF and Shin Bet forces in the Gaza Strip," the statement said.
“The three returnees are now being escorted back to Israel, accompanied by elite units of the IDF and Shin Bet forces, to Israeli territory where they will undergo an initial medical assessment.
"IDF commanders and their soldiers saluted and embraced them on their way back to Israel."
The three hostages, two of whom were injured during the abduction, were the first of 33 hostages belonging to the so-called humanitarian category, including women, children, the sick and the elderly, in a complex three-person kidnapping operation The first part was listed as releasing the hostages. Stage hostage trading.
The rest of the 33 will be released in small groups the following Sunday as the ceasefire progresses.
The mother of the three will be reunited with her daughters in Reim, southern Israel, where the hostages will be held after they are officially handed over to Israeli forces, Israel's Channel 12 News reported.
Earlier video footage showed a convoy of four white Red Cross vehicles heading to central Gaza to pick up the three hostages.
Later footage showed the SUVs parked at what appeared to be an agreed-upon rendezvous point, where they were surrounded by a crowd blocked by armed members of Hamas's Qassam Brigades.
From there, the freed hostages were flown first to the Israeli military and then to waiting helicopters to take them to Israeli hospitals.
The release came as Israel said it was preparing to release 90 Palestinian prisoners to the West Bank later on Sunday as part of a ceasefire agreement.
Israel is expected to release the first batch of Palestinian detainees under the deal once the first three hostages are returned on Sunday. According to Hamas, the 90 Palestinians released on Sunday will include 69 women and 21 teenage boys.
No detailed plan was drawn up to govern Gaza after the war, let alone rebuild it. Hamas's return to Gaza will test Israel's commitment to the truce, which has said it will resume the war unless the militant group that has ruled the area since 2007 is completely dismantled.