Israeli hostages, Palestinian detainees freed on first Gaza truce exchange

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israel released 90 Palestinian prisoners on Monday after Hamas handed over three Israeli hostages, completing the first exchange under a long-awaited truce aimed at ending more than 15 months of Israeli war on Gaza.

The three hostages released Sunday, all women, were reunited with their families and taken to hospital in central Israel where a doctor said they were in stable condition.

Hours later in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinian prisoners released by Israel left Ofer prison on buses at around 1:00 am (2300 GMT Sunday), with jubilant crowds celebrating their arrival in the nearby town of Beitunia.

As the ceasefire took effect on Sunday 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 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.

The initial 42-day truce was brokered by Qatari, US and Egyptian mediators.

It is meant to enable a surge of sorely needed humanitarian aid into Gaza, as more Israeli hostages are released in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli custody, Israeli forces leave some areas and the parties negotiate the terms of a permanent ceasefire.

 'Nothing left' 

Minutes after the truce began, the United Nations said the first trucks carrying desperately needed humanitarian aid had entered the Palestinian territory.

"It is imperative that this ceasefire removes the significant security and political obstacles to delivering aid," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.

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, and during the delay, Gaza rescuers said Israeli bombardment killed 19 people.

Thousands of Palestinians carrying tents, clothes and their personal belongings were seen going home on Sunday, after the war displaced the vast majority of Gazans, in many cases more than once.

Returning Jabalia resident Walid Abu Jiab said he found "massive, unprecedented destruction", with "nothing left" in Gaza's war-battered north.

In Deir El Balah, in central Gaza, Umm Hasan al-Buzom, 70, said she would even "crawl my way back home" if needed.

"But we can't return for fear that the [Israeli] occupation forces might shoot at us."

Aid workers say northern Gaza was particularly hard hit, and lacked all essentials including food, shelter and water.

The World Health Organization said it was ready to pour aid into Gaza but that it would need "systematic access" across the territory to do so.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus later said on X that "restoring the health system in Gaza will be a complex and challenging task, given the scale of destruction".

 'Commitment' 

Another UN agency, the World Food Programme, said it was moving full throttle to get food to as many Gazans as possible.

"We're trying to reach a million people within the shortest possible time," the WFP's deputy executive director, Carl Skau, told AFP.

Before the war, Gaza's population stood at 2.4 million people.

On the eve of the truce, 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".

The war's only previous truce, for one week in November 2023, also saw the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.