AFP Asia Business

Late night tears and hugs for released Palestinian prisoners

Two buses carrying Palestinian prisoners released in the Gaza ceasefire deal had to inch through a thick crowd when they at last arrived in the West Bank at 2 am Monday.After the doors opened, women hugged their relatives and cried tears of joy while throngs of people chanted, waved flags and climbed atop the vehicles. Others lit fireworks in the normally quiet suburb of Beitunia.Bushra al-Tawil, a Palestinian journalist jailed in Israel in March 2024, was among the first batch of prisoners to be released in the truce.Over the next 42 days, around 1,900 Palestinians are due to be freed in exchange for 33 Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.Tawil began her journey at 3 am the day before, when she was taken from her prison to another nearer the separation wall. There, she was grouped with other inmates awaiting movement.”The wait was extremely hard. But thank God, we were certain that at any moment we would be released,” she said.Tawil had only learned she would be freed from other inmates who had attended a hearing.”The lawyers told them the (ceasefire) deal had been announced and was in the implementation phase,” said Tawil, whose father is also in an Israeli jail.”I was worried about him. He is still a prisoner, but I just received good news that he will be released as part of this deal.”A crowd of hundreds of Palestinians pressed around Tawil and the 89 other prisoners released in exchange for three Israeli hostages held in Gaza since October 7, 2023.Many in the crowd had gathered earlier on a hill in Beitunia for a view of Israel’s Ofer prison, from where the prisoners were being released.”We came here to witness it and feel the emotions, just like the families of the prisoners who are being released today,” said Amanda Abu Sharkh, 23, from the nearby city of Ramallah.- ‘They feel like family’ -“All the prisoners being released today feel like family to us. They are part of us, even if they’re not blood relatives,” she told AFP.As night fell and the wait continued in the cold, dozens of small fires illuminated the stony hill.Excitement grew when news broke that the three Israeli hostages had been released.Muhammad, 20, said he had come from Ramallah with his friends as soon as he heard the development.Recently released from Ofer prison himself, he expressed “great joy” at the thought of families being reunited.”I know a lot of people in prison, there are innocent people, children and women,” he said.The prisoners set to be released during the initial 42-day ceasefire period include many held under administrative detention, which does not require formal charges.Others are serving life sentences for attacks that killed Israelis.Farther in Beitunia, even bigger crowds gathered at the roundabout where the prisoners were eventually dropped off, waving Palestinian and Hamas flags, chanting slogans and filling the streets in anticipation.- ‘There will be lots of crying’ -An 18-year-old woman could barely contain her joy as she awaited her mother’s release.”I’ll hug her right away — of course, I’ll hug her. At first, it’ll just be tears of joy,” she said.”After that, she’ll tell us about her time in prison, and we’ll tell her about our lives without her. I’m sure there will be a lot of crying,” she said as she stood by her brother, sister and aunt.Her mother, a doctor, had been arrested in January 2024 in the north of the occupied West Bank for social media activity, she said.”They accused her of incitement because of posts she wrote on Facebook,” she said, calling the charges “ridiculous” for a middle-aged nurse and trained midwife.Nearby, Oday waited with his family.Though he had been freed after being arrested with his son at the start of the war, his son remains detained and is not on the initial release list.Oday, who preferred not to give his last name for fear of jeopardising his son’s release, said his son had been arrested for social media activity.But he said he wanted to celebrate all the releases on Sunday night because he knows what captivity is like.”You can’t think for yourself and for your son only,” he said, adding he was happy hostages were being released from Gaza as well.

Chaotic crowds, Hamas gunmen surround Gaza hostage handover

Chaotic scenes enveloped the three hostages from Israel who were handed over to the Red Cross Sunday by masked Hamas militants wearing green headbands in a packed Gaza City square.A dense crowd of Palestinians had gathered to watch the moment, the first release of hostages seized on October 7, 2023, under the new ceasefire that came into effect on Sunday.Hamas fighters struggled to hold the crowds back from the convoy of Red Cross SUVs that had arrived at Saraya Square in the west of Gaza City to collect them.Many of those in the crowd chanted “Allahu Akbar”, or “God is greatest” in Arabic.An AFP journalist on-site said fighters from the Palestinian Islamist movement initially tried to keep the public away from the ICRC cars.But when another convoy of white vehicles arrived in the square carrying the three women hostages to be handed over, the crowd of several thousand surged forward to surround them.APFTV footage showed armed and balaclava-wearing Palestinian fighters stationed around the van containing the three women, as others stood on top of it.The women, Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher, were the first to be released under the ceasefire agreement agreed between Israel and Hamas.In a video released by Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the three women were seen smiling in a car and being presented with “release certificates” and what appeared to be Hamas-branded gift bags.International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) staff wearing red vests briefly exchanged words with Hamas militants in the group’s distinctive green headbands, while the Hamas footage showed them signing the release certificates before the women swiftly crossed to the Red Cross SUVs.”Dozens of armed members of the Al-Qassam Brigades participated in the operation,” a Hamas official told AFP.Around them a vast crowd pulsed, occasionally threatening to overwhelm the fighters protecting the convoy, who had to force people back.The crowd waved Palestinian and Hamas flags while cheering and whistling. Some clung from the top of large advertising billboards to catch a glimpse of the hostage handover taking place below.One young man perched on another’s shoulders began chanting in tribute to Yahya Sinwar, one of the architects of the October 7 events, who was killed by Israeli soldiers in southern Gaza in October.Saraya Square, a large plaza built in the 1930s, is one of Gaza’s main gathering places and known for its proximity to Hamas government administrative buildings.At the crucial moment, the three young women left a white van through sliding doors and headed to the Red Cross vehicles that would take them to Israeli forces in the territory.Long after they had gone, crowds continued to celebrate in front of buildings damaged in the war as the first day of the ceasefire continued to hold.az-jd-crb-dcp/ami

First Israeli hostages freed as Gaza truce begins

The first three Israeli hostages were released Sunday under a long-awaited Gaza truce aimed at ending more than 15 months of war that has ravaged the Palestinian territory.As the ceasefire took effect in the morning, thousands of displaced, war-weary Palestinians set off across the devastated Gaza Strip to return home.In the northern area of Jabalia, hundreds streamed down a sandy path, heading back to an apocalyptic landscape piled with rubble and destroyed buildings.”We are finally in our home. There is no home left, just rubble, but it’s our home,” said Rana Mohsen, 43, back in Jabalia.An initial 42-day truce brokered by Qatari, US and Egyptian mediators is meant to enable a surge of sorely needed humanitarian aid into Gaza, as Israeli hostages are to be released in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli custody.The first three hostages, all women, were reunited with their mothers shortly after being taken back to Israel by security forces.Hamas fighters had handed over the trio — Emily Damari, Romi Gonen, and Doron Steinbrecher — to Red Cross officials in a bustling square in Gaza City surrounded by a sea of people including gunmen.”After 471 days Emily is finally home,” said her mother Mandy Damari, but “for too many other families the impossible wait continues”.In central Tel Aviv, there was elation among the crowd who had waited for hours in a plaza dubbed “Hostage Square”.The Hostage and Missing Families Forum campaign group hailed their return as “a beacon of light”, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said they had emerged “from darkness”.Dozens of Palestinian prisoners are due to be released by Israel in exchange later on Sunday.A total of 33 Israeli hostages, 31 of whom were taken by militants during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, are due be returned from Gaza during the initial truce in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians.The next hostage-prisoner swap would take place on Saturday, a senior Hamas official told AFP.- ‘Nothing left’ -Minutes after the truce began, the United Nations said the first trucks carrying desperately needed humanitarian aid had entered the Palestinian territory.UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the truce, saying “it is imperative that this ceasefire removes the significant security and political obstacles to delivering aid”.The truce is intended to pave the way for a permanent end to the war, but a second phase has yet to be finalised.It came into effect nearly three hours later than scheduled. During the delay, Israel’s military said it was continuing operations, with the territory’s civil defence agency reporting 19 people killed and 25 wounded in bombardments.Thousands of Palestinians carrying tents, clothes and their personal belongings were seen going home on Sunday, after the war that displaced the vast majority of Gazans, in many cases more than once.Returning Jabalia resident Walid Abu Jiab said he had found “massive, unprecedented destruction”, with “nothing left” in Gaza’s war-battered north, which has seen intense violence over the past months.In the southern city of Rafah, Ahmad al-Balawi said that “as soon as I returned… I felt a shock.””Entire areas have been completely wiped out”, he told AFP, describing “decomposing bodies, rubble, and destruction everywhere”.Aid workers say northern Gaza was particularly hard-hit, lacking all essentials including food, shelter and water.The UN’s OCHA humanitarian agency said the first trucks started entering following the truce.An Egyptian source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said “260 trucks of aid and 16 of fuel” entered on Sunday. Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty had said 600 trucks a day would cross into Gaza.The World Health Organization said it was ready to pour much-needed aid into Gaza but that it would need “systematic access” across the territory to do so.Warning the “health challenges ahead are immense”, the Geneva-based agency estimated the cost of rebuilding Gaza’s battered health system in the years to come at “billions in investment”.”Only half of Gaza’s 36 hospitals remain partially operational, nearly all hospitals are damaged or partly destroyed, and just 38 percent of primary health care centres are functional,” the WHO said.- ‘Commitment’ to truce -On the eve of the ceasefire, Netanyahu called the first phase a “temporary ceasefire” and said Israel had US support to return to the war if necessary.Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said its adherence to the truce would be “contingent on the enemy’s commitment”.US President Joe Biden, whose administration has been involved in months of mediation efforts, welcomed the ceasefire taking hold on Sunday, saying that “after so much pain, death and loss of life, today the guns in Gaza have gone silent”.The war’s only previous truce, for one week in November 2023, also saw the release of hostages held by militants in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.Hamas’s October 7 attack, the deadliest in Israel’s history, resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.Of the 251 people taken hostage, 91 are still in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.The truce took effect on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration for a second term as president of the United States.Trump, who claimed credit for the ceasefire deal, told US network NBC on Saturday that he had told Netanyahu the war “has to end”.”We want it to end, but to keep doing what has to be done,” he said.Under the deal, Israeli forces will withdraw from densely populated areas of Gaza and allow displaced Palestinians to return “to their residences”, Qatar’s prime minister said in announcing the deal.burs-ami/dv

Emily Damari: the British hostage who loves Spurs

Emily Damari, 28, is a British-Israeli dual national who was one of the three women released on Sunday under a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel.”After 471 days Emily is finally home,” said her mother, Mandy Damari, who has campaigned tirelessly for her release since she was kidnapped by Hamas militants in October 2023.Damari was the last British hostage being held in the Gaza Strip. Some of the other hostages however have links to the UK.”I want to thank everyone who never stopped fighting for Emily throughout this horrendous ordeal, and who never stopped saying her name,” her mother said.”While Emily’s nightmare in Gaza is over, for too many other families the impossible wait continues,” she added.Damari was born in Israel after her English mother, Mandy, moved there in her 20s. Her father is Israeli.She is a fan of pop superstar Ed Sheeran and Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur, whose fans have often chanted her name during matches since she was captured.Damari was kidnapped in southern Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023 during its unprecedented attack that killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, triggering the devastating conflict between Israel and the militant Palestinians in the Gaza.Israel’s ensuing campaign to eradicate the militants has destroyed much of Gaza, killing more than 46,900 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.- ‘Humour and chutzpah’ -Damari was at home in Kfar Aza, a kibbutz near Israel’s southern border with Gaza, where she grew up, when Hamas gunmen stormed her home, injuring her hands and legs during the attack.Her dog Choocha was killed with a gunshot to the neck, said her mother, Mandy Damari.Mandy Damari relentlessly lobbied Israeli and UK leaders for her daughter’s return.British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Emily Damari’s release, alongside two other Israeli women, was “wonderful and long-overdue news after months of agony for them and their families.”I wish them all the very best as they begin the road to recovery after the intolerable trauma they have experienced.”In December, Damari said she was “terrified” her daughter and other female hostages were exposed to “the constant threat of sexual assault” while in captivity.She has described Emily as “beautiful” and “charismatic” and boasting a “cheeky smile”.In a recorded message marking the attack’s first anniversary last October, Damari said her daughter had a mixed sense of classic British humour and “Israeli chutzpah”.”I always say that ‘I love her to the moon and back’. I need her back with me now, alive, before it is too late for her,” she said.- ‘One of our own’ -Mandy Damari added that Emily was a fan of singers Adele and Ed Sheeran.Emily would go to watch at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium whenever she was in the UK visiting family, she added.”She’s one of our own, she’s one of our own, Emily Damari, bring her home,” Spurs fans have sung from the terraces.They have also handed out flyers with an image of Emily, with her long, curly dark hair, wearing a Spurs scarf, and released hundreds of yellow balloons during a game to raise awareness of her plight.Mandy Damari had said in October she feared Emily had been forgotten.And she revealed how hostages freed in 2023 had told her about Emily’s “bravery and courage and even her laughter and the way she helped hold everyone together even in the worst times”.

Chaotic crowds, gunmen surround Gaza hostage handover

Chaotic scenes enveloped the three hostages from Israel who were handed over to the Red Cross Sunday by masked Hamas militants wearing green headbands in a packed Gaza City square.A dense crowd of Palestinians had gathered to watch the moment, the first release of hostages seized on October 7, 2023, under the new ceasefire that came into effect on Sunday.Hamas fighters struggled to hold the crowds back from the convoy of Red Cross SUVs that had arrived at Saraya Square in the west of Gaza City to collect them.Many of those in the crowd chanted “Allahu Akbar”, or “God is greatest” in Arabic.An AFP journalist on-site said fighters from the Palestinian Islamist movement initially tried to keep the public away from the ICRC cars.But when another convoy of white vehicles arrived in the square carrying the three women hostages to be handed over, the crowd of several thousand surged forward to surround them. APFTV footage showed armed and balaclava-wearing Palestinian fighters stationed around the van containing the three women, as others stood on top of it.The three women, Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher, were the first to be released under the ceasefire agreement agreed this week between Israel and Hamas.International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) staff wearing red vests briefly exchanged words with Hamas militants in the group’s distinctive green headbands.”Dozens of armed members of the al-Qassam Brigades participated in the operation,” a Hamas official told AFP, referring to the group’s armed wing.Around them a vast crowd pulsed, occasionally threatening to overwhelm the fighters protecting the convoy, who had to force people back.The crowd waved Palestinian and Hamas flags while cheering and whistling. Some clung from the top of large advertising billboards to catch a glimpse of the hostage handover taking place below.One young man perched on another’s shoulders began chanting in tribute to Yahya Sinwar, one of the architects of the October 7 events, who was killed by Israeli soldiers in southern Gaza.Saraya Square, a large plaza built in the 1930s, is one of Gaza’s main gathering places and known for its proximity to Hamas government administrative buildings.At the crucial moment, the three young women left a white van through sliding doors and headed to the Red Cross vehicles that would take them to Israeli forces in the territory.Long after they had gone, crowds continued to celebrate in front of buildings damaged in the war as the first day of the ceasefire continued to hold.

Joy in Israel at hostage release but fears for those still held

The crowds in Tel Aviv’s “Hostage Square” cheered and whooped with joy late Sunday at the news that the first three hostages freed under the Gaza ceasefire deal had returned to Israel.There was elation among those who had waited for hours in the plaza in the centre of Israel’s commercial hub opposite Israeli military headquarters.The good news of the release of the three women was tempered by the knowledge that so many hostages still remained captives of Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, however.A total of 33 Israeli hostages, 31 of whom taken by militants during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, will be returned from Gaza during an initial 42-day truce, in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians in Israeli custody.Palestinian militants took 251 people hostage on October 7, with 91 still in Gaza after Sunday’s release, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.AFPTV footage showed the hushed crowd watching 24-hour coverage on a large screen from mid-afternoon, waiting for any sign that the hostage release was really going ahead.Arms crossed and amid looks of concern, they watched the footage showing masked Hamas fighters in Gaza trying to control crowds of people who had gathered to see the three hostages being handed over to the Red Cross.At the first glimpse of the hostages in the back of a car in Gaza, surrounded by Hamas fighters, the Israeli onlookers in Tel Aviv burst into a brief moment of applause and cheering before falling silent again.Now they looked on, smiling and filming the moment, finally allowing themselves to believe that hostages were finally coming home after so much false hope.One young woman in the crowd wept openly as next to her a jubilant moustachioed man bounced up and down with excitement.More cheering followed when it was confirmed by Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari that the three women — Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher — were back in Israel and finally free after 471 days as captives in Gaza.A video later released by the Israeli military showed families of the three screaming, jumping for joy and crying as they watched their relatives returning home.In Jerusalem, President Isaac Herzog had opted to head to the Old City’s Western Wall to pray for the three. The ancient retaining wall stands beneath the holiest place in Judaism, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.The Hostages and Families Forum said: “Their return today represents a beacon of light in the darkness, a moment of hope and triumph of the human spirit. For their families and for all of us, this is a moment that will be forever etched in our memory.””Their return reminds us of our profound responsibility to continue working towards the release of everyone — until the last hostage returns home.”Amid the jubilation in Israel, a large digital clock beside the main stage in Tel Aviv counts every second that hostages have been held in Gaza.It continues to tick for the 91 still captive in the Palestinian territory.