Asia Pacific Report
An almost three-hour delay for the start of the temporary ceasefire — due to “technical difficulties”, said the resistance movement Hamas — hardly daunted thousands of euphoric Palestinians who took to the streets of Gaza on Sunday to celebrate and try to move back to bombed-out homes in spite of the dangers.
Hamas finally released three names of women hostages due to be set free today and the truce began, reports Al Jazeera.
This in turn will trigger freedom for 95 Palestinian prisoners, many of whom had been jailed without charges or being tried in Israeli lawcourts, at the start of the 42-day first stage of the three-phase ceasefire deal.
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Israel currently detains 10,400 Palestinian prisoners in jails, according to the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society.
This figure does not include those detained from Gaza during the last 15 months of conflict. Hamas and allied resistance groups are reported to be holding 94 hostages captured on 7 October 2023, with 34 of those believed to be dead.
At least 19 people were killed on Sunday and 36 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza during the truce delay according to Gazan Civil Defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basal
One person was killed in Rafah, six people were killed in Khan Younis, nine were killed in Gaza City and three in the north, he said in a statement.
Ceasefire start announced
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office announced the ceasefire with Hamas would start at 11:15am local time (09:15 GMT) after the delay by Hamas in naming the three Israeli women captives to be freed as Romi Gonen, 24, Doron Steinbrecher, 31, and Emily Damari, 28.
One was reported to be of dual Romanian nationality and another of British nationality.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said it had 4000 truckloads of humanitarian aid ready to enter the Gaza Strip — “half of them carry food and water”, announced UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini in an X post.
UNRWA has 4,000 truckloads of aid ready to enter #Gaza — half of them carry food and flour.
Attacks on aid convoys in the Gaza Strip could decline as humanitarian relief comes in following a #ceasefire, says @UNLazzarini.https://t.co/yRt1NxWuXS
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) January 19, 2025
Two of the Palestinian reporters covering the truce from inside Gaza for Al Jazeera spoke of the joy and celebrations in spite of the uncertainty over the delayed truce start.
“Palestinians are taking a deep breath from all the atrocities they have been going through for the past 470 days. And today is a day of celebration,” said Hind Khoudary, reporting from Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
“Thousands of Palestinians are getting ready to go to the areas that they were not supposed to go, like the eastern parts, Jabalia, the areas that have been witnessing an Israeli ground invasion — and also Rafah.
‘Their houses are not even there’
“We also saw a lot of people putting their luggage to start going back, but many know that their houses are not even there.
“Most of their houses are not standing any more, but most of the people said that they’re going to put their tents on top of the rubble in their neighbourhoods.
Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Deir el-Balah, Gaza, said that despite the ceasefire delay, people had been celebrating.
“People here, as soon as the clock hit 8:30am, burst out into celebration and festivities. We heard shotguns a few times as well as people using fireworks.
“They are hoping that the coming hours are going to show them more promises and that the list of captives has been resolved and they can go on to start piecing their lives together in a more stable and safer environment.”
In Auckland on Saturday, about 200 demonstrators gathered in the heart of New Zealand’s biggest city to welcome the Gaza ceasefire, but warned they would continue to protest until justice is served with an independent and free Palestinan state.
Jubilant scenes of dancing and Palestinian folk music rang out across Te Komititanga square amid calls for the Israeli ambassador to be expelled from New Zealand and for the government to halt holiday worker visas for “Zionist terrorist” soldiers or reservists.
