A ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip came into effect on Sunday after a delay of nearly three hours, ending a 15-month-old war that has brought destruction and seismic political change to the Middle East.
Residents and a medical worker in Gaza said they had heard no new fighting or military strikes since about half an hour before it was finally activated.
Israeli airstrikes and artillery attacks killed 13 Palestinians between 8:30 a.m. local time, when the cease-fire was supposed to start, and 11:15 a.m. local time, when it took effect, medics said. Palestine.
Israel blamed Hamas for the delay after the Palestinian militant group failed to provide a list naming the first three hostages released under the deal.
Hamas attributed the delay to “technical” reasons, without specifying what they were.
A Palestinian official familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the delay occurred because mediators had called for 48 hours of “calm” before the ceasefire was set. the act, but Israeli strikes continued up to the date made it difficult to deport the person. a list.
Two hours after the deadline, Hamas said it had submitted the list of names, and Israeli officials confirmed they had been received. Hamas named the hostages who were to be released on Sunday as Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari.
Israel did not immediately confirm the names.
Canadian Maureen Leshem talks to The National about waiting for the release of her cousin, Romi Gonen, who was kidnapped by Hamas from the Nova Music Festival in Israel on October 7, 2023.
The much-anticipated ceasefire deal could help end the Gaza war, which began after Hamas, which controls the small coastal enclave, attacked Israel on October 7 2023, killing about 1,200 people, according to Israeli authorities.
Israel's response has reduced much of Gaza to rubble and killed nearly 47,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza-based health authorities.
The war also sparked a conflict across the Middle East between Israel and its enemy Iran, which supports Hamas and other anti-Israeli and anti-American paramilitary forces throughout the region.
Before the ceasefire was implemented at 8:30 a.m. local time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it could not take effect until Hamas provided the names of the guards to be released on Sunday.
Israeli military spokesmen said in separate statements on Sunday that its aircraft and artillery had attacked “terrorist targets” in northern and central Gaza, and that the military would continue to attacking the border as long as Hamas did not fulfill its obligations under the ceasefire.
The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said at least 13 people were killed in the Israeli attacks and dozens wounded. Medics said tanks were firing at the Zeitoun area of Gaza City, and said an airstrike and tank fire also hit the northern city of Beit Hanoun, sending residents had returned in the expectation that the ceasefire was escaping.
An air raid siren that sounded in the Sderot area in southern Israel turned out to be a false alarm, the Israeli military said in a separate statement.
Israeli forces had begun withdrawing from areas in Gaza's Rafah to the Philadelphi Corridor on the border between Egypt and Gaza, pro-Hamas media reported early Sunday.
The three-phase ceasefire agreement came after months of ongoing negotiations brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, and came just ahead of the January 20 presidential inauguration US Donald Trump.
Its first phase will last six weeks, when 33 of the 98 remaining hostages – women, children, men over 50, the sick and wounded – will be released for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. and detainees.
They include 737 male, female and teenage prisoners, some of whom are members of militant groups convicted of attacks that have killed dozens of Israelis, as well as hundreds of Palestinians from Gaza who have been held since the start of the conflict. 'war.
Phase 1 of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas includes the release of 33 Israeli hostages, including women, children and men over 50, in exchange for around on 1,900 Palestinian prisoners. Efrat Machikawa, the 80-year-old niece of Israeli host Gadi Moses, says her uncle will be part of this first phase, but it is unclear when he will return and current health status. Machikawa says she is happy 'for the end of the suffering' and she hopes the grandchildren of 14 Moses will see him again.
Three female hostages are expected to be released through the Red Cross on Sunday, and Hamas said Israel is to provide a list with the names of 90 Palestinian prisoners to be released.
Under the terms of the agreement, Hamas will inform the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) where the meeting point will be inside Gaza and the ICRC is expected to begin driving to that location until the to gather enemies, an officer involved in the process. said Reuters.
US President Joe Biden's team worked closely with Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff to push the deal over the line.
As his inauguration approaches, Trump has reiterated his call for a deal to be done quickly, warning again that there would be “hell to pay” if it was not done. to release the enemies.
But it is unclear what will come next in Gaza without a comprehensive agreement on the future of the enclave after the war, which will require billions of dollars and years of reconstruction work.
And although the stated goal of the truce is to end the war completely, it could easily resolve.
Hamas, which has controlled Gaza for nearly two decades, has survived despite losing its top leadership and thousands of fighters.
Israel has vowed not to allow Hamas to return to power and has cleared large swathes of land inside Gaza, in a move widely seen as a move towards creating a buffer zone that will allow the troops to his to act freely against threats in the enclosure.
In Israel, the return of the guards may ease some of the public anger against Netanyahu and his right-wing government over the Oct. 7 security failure that led to the single deadliest day in the country's history.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday in a televised address that his government treats the truce with Hamas as temporary and retains the right to return to fighting.
The war sent shock waves across the region, sparking a conflict with the Tehran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah movement and bringing Israel into direct conflict with its arch-enemy Iran for the first time.
It has also changed the Middle East. Iran, which has spent billions building a network of militant groups around Israel, has seen its “Axis of Resistance” destroyed and has been unable to inflict more than minimal damage on Israel in two major missile attack.
Hezbollah, whose massive missile arsenal was once seen as the biggest threat to Israel, has seen its top leadership killed and most of its missiles and military infrastructure destroyed.
Diplomatically, Israel has faced outrage and isolation over the death and destruction in Gaza.
Netanyahu is facing the International Criminal Court arrest warrant on charges of war crimes and separate charges of genocide at the International Court of Justice.
Israel has reacted angrily to both cases, rejecting the accusations as politically motivated and accusing South Africa, which brought the original ICJ case as well as the countries that joined it, of antisemitism.
