The much-awaited Israeli-Hamas ceasefire agreement has finally come to force with the expected release of the first three Israeli hostages in the first phase of the ceasefire which will last for six weeks that will see 33 Israeli hostages released.
The exact time Hamas will release the hostages was unclear, but the Israeli government has indicated it will be after 4pm (9 a.m. ET).
This arrangement will also see the beginning of the return of displaced Palestinians to the cities they fled and a possible end to the 15-month-old war with Israel in Gaza that has devastated the Palestinian territory and left it largely in ruins.
The first three Israeli hostages due to be freed from captivity on Sunday include Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari. In exchange, 95 Palestinian prisoners will be released – 70 females and 25 males.
Displaced Gazans are starting to return to their homes, while aid trucks lined up on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing ahead of the deal going into effect.
Following the ceasefire, trucks carrying humanitarian aid began entering Gaza on Sunday just 15 minutes after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began, UN aid official Jonathan Whittall posted X.
A vast amount of aid is required to stem the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The civilian population is lacking many basic needs, Juliette Touma, from the UN refugee agency UNRWA, added
Aid agencies are hoping as quickly as possible to have hundreds of trucks entering the strip daily, though there are concerns over arrangements for safely distributing the aid.
Israel Forces invaded Gaza after Hamas attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 back to Gaza as hostages.
Meanwhile three far-right Israeli ministers have resigned from the coalition government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on Sunday in opposition to the ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
They include Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir; Minister of the Negev, Galilee and National Resilience, Yitzhak Wasserlauf and Minister of Heritage Amichai Eliyahu, all of whom are from Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power).
Three other lawmakers from Otzma Yehudit party reportedly submitted letters of resignation from their positions on the various committees in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.
The move from Ben Gvir’s party could weaken Netanyahu’s coalition but not collapse his government.
“From this time on, the Otzma Yehudit party is not a member of the coalition,” the party said in a statement.
The party has described the agreement negotiated with Hamas as a “surrender” and said the deal is “reckless,” which will see “the release of hundreds of murderers with the blood of men, women and children on their hands… while renouncing the IDF’s achievements in the war, the withdrawal of IDF forces from the Gaza Strip and the cessation of fighting in Gaza.”