KEY POINTS
- Three Israeli hostages were freed under a 42-day truce.
- The truce allowed the first trucks of humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.
- Returning Palestinians find widespread devastation, with entire areas wiped out.
- 33 Israeli hostages will be exchanged for about 1,900 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
GAZA CITY: The first three Israeli hostages were released by Hamas on Sunday under a long-awaited Gaza truce aimed at ending more than 15 months of Israeli bombardment campaign 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 to ruined homes.
In the northern area of Jabalia, hundreds streamed down a sandy path, heading back to an apocalyptic landscape piled with rubble and destroyed buildings.
The 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 a total of 33 Israeli hostages are to be released in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians in Israeli custody.

The Israeli military said the first three hostages, all women, “crossed the border into Israeli territory” in the afternoon.
The Hostage and Missing Families Forum campaign group earlier identified the three women as Emily Damari, Romi Gonen and Doron Steinbrecher.
Military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the hostages were “in our hands and on their way home”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said they had endured a horrific ordeal.
“I know, we all know, they have been through hell. They are emerging from darkness into light, from bondage to freedom,” he said.

Dozens of Palestinian prisoners are due to be released by Israel in exchange later on Sunday.
Minutes after the truce began, the United Nations said the first trucks carrying sorely needed humanitarian aid had entered the Palestinian territory.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the truce, saying on X “it is imperative that this ceasefire removes the significant security and political obstacles to delivering aid”.
I welcome the start of the implementation of the ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza.
We stand ready to support this implementation & scale up the delivery of sustained humanitarian relief to the countless Palestinians who continue to suffer.
It is imperative that this…
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) January 19, 2025
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 continued bombardment, with the territory’s civil defence agency reporting 19 people killed and 25 wounded in Israeli bombardments on Sunday.
Nothing left in Gaza
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 Gaza’s population, 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 Israeli 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.
READ ALSO : Displaced Palestinians Return to Ruined Homes as Gaza Ceasefire Begins
Jonathan Whittall, interim chief of the UN’s OCHA humanitarian agency for the Palestinian territories, said on X that the first trucks started entering following the truce, after “a massive effort” to prepare for a surge of aid across the territory.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty earlier said 600 trucks a day would cross into Gaza.

In Gaza City, well before the ceasefire went into effect, people were already celebrating, waving Palestinian flags in the street.
A total of 33 Israeli hostages, 31 of whom were taken by Hamas during the October 7, 2023 attack, are due to be returned from Gaza during the initial truce.
Commitment to ceasefire
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, 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 Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

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.