On Sunday, as part of a ceasefire agreement, Hamas released three Israeli captives, while Israel released 90 Palestinian prisoners. This marked the beginning of a truce that halted a war which has been raging for 15 months, severely impacting the Gaza Strip and escalating tensions across the Middle East.

The ceasefire allowed many Palestinians to return to their damaged neighborhoods, starting the process of rebuilding their lives while aid trucks delivered essential supplies. In different areas of Gaza, large crowds celebrated the return of Hamas fighters who had been hiding.

Fireworks lit up the sky as buses carrying the freed Palestinian prisoners arrived in Ramallah, West Bank, where thousands gathered to greet them. According to Hamas, the released prisoners included 69 women and 21 teenage boys from Jerusalem and the West Bank.

In Tel Aviv, hundreds of Israelis expressed joy and relief in a square outside the defense ministry as a live broadcast from Gaza showed the three female hostages entering a Red Cross vehicle, surrounded by Hamas fighters.

The Israeli military confirmed that Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher, and Emily Damari had been reunited with their mothers, sharing a video that indicated they were in good health. Damari, who lost two fingers during her abduction, smiled and hugged her mother while showing her bandaged hand.

“I want you to tell them: Romi, Doron, and Emily – the whole nation embraces you. Welcome home,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said via phone to a military commander.

At Sheba Medical Center, emotional reunions took place between the women and their families, shifting from tears to laughter. A beaming Damari was wrapped in an Israeli flag. These three women were part of over 250 individuals taken hostage and 1,200 lives lost after a Hamas raid on Israel on October 7, 2023, as reported by Israeli sources.

In response, over 47,000 Palestinians have reportedly died due to Israeli strikes, according to medical officials in Gaza. Nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents now face homelessness. Approximately 400 Israeli soldiers have also lost their lives.

Initial phase of ceasefire begins

This ceasefire agreement calls for an end to hostilities, the delivery of aid to Gaza, and the gradual release of 33 of nearly 100 remaining Israeli and foreign hostages in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli facilities. Many of the hostages are feared dead.

In northern Gaza, Palestinians navigated through a war-torn landscape filled with rubble and twisted metal, remnants of the most violent periods of the conflict.

“I feel like I’ve finally found water to drink after being lost in a desert for 15 months,” shared Aya, who has been displaced from her home in Gaza City for over a year.

The initial phase of the ceasefire started after a three-hour delay, during which Israeli airstrikes and artillery targeted the Gaza Strip.

This final assault resulted in 13 casualties, according to Palestinian health officials. Israel attributed the delay to Hamas’s tardiness in providing the names of released hostages, while Hamas characterized the hold-up as a technical issue.

“Today the guns in Gaza have finally fallen silent,” U.S. President Joe Biden remarked on his last day in office, appreciating a ceasefire that had been out of reach for U.S. diplomacy for more than a year. “We are here thanks to the pressure Israel exerted on Hamas, supported by the United States.”

For Hamas, the ceasefire allowed them to emerge publicly after having been hidden away for 15 months. Hamas police dressed in blue uniforms deployed in certain areas, with armed fighters driving through Khan Younis as crowds cheered, “Welcome to Al-Qassam Brigades,” the militant faction’s armed wing.

“We stand strong, despite Netanyahu,” declared one fighter in a statement to Reuters.

Trump aide: ‘Hamas will never rule Gaza’

Currently, there is no comprehensive plan regarding the governance of Gaza post-war, nor is there a strategy for its reconstruction. Any potential return of Hamas to power is likely to test Israel’s tolerance, which has stated that combat operations will resume unless the militant group is completely dismantled.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a hardliner, resigned from the cabinet over the ceasefire, though his party assured that they wouldn’t seek to unseat Netanyahu’s administration. The other key hardliner, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, chose to remain in the government but indicated he would resign if the conflict ended without Hamas’s thorough defeat.

This ceasefire coincided with the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, whose future national security adviser, Mike Waltz, cautioned that if Hamas disregards the ceasefire, the United States would back Israel “in whatever action is necessary.”

“Hamas will never rule Gaza. This is entirely unacceptable,” he asserted.

As the streets of devastated Gaza City filled with people waving Palestinian flags and capturing footage on their phones, Ahmed Abu Ayham, 40, expressed that although the ceasefire could save lives, the immense losses and destruction meant it was not a time for celebration.

“We are in deep pain, and it’s a time for us to embrace each other and mourn,” he noted.