Ceasefire sees displaced Gazans return home as Israel awaits hostages

Geneva, Switzerland (PANA)  - The long-awaited ceasefire in Gaza has come into force after a last-minute delay, with displaced Palestinians beginning to return to the cities they fled.

"I want to go back and kiss the ground and the soil of Gaza," one person heading from Khan Younis in the south, to Gaza City in the north, says.

The first three Israeli hostages are expected to be freed later. Hamas has named them as 31-year-old Doron Steinbrecher, dual British-Israeli Emily Damari, 28, and 24-year-old Romi Gonen - a Red Cross team is on its way to collect them.

Hamas says for every hostage released, 30 Palestinian prisoners will be released from Israeli jails.

In the hours the ceasefire was delayed, Israel continued hitting Gaza, killing 19 more people, according to the Hamas-run civil defence agency.

Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 back to Gaza as hostages.
The attack triggered a massive Israeli offensive on Gaza, during which more than 46,900 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Five hours into the ceasefire, both sides prepare for first hostage-prisoner swap.
A ceasefire that was due to begin at 08:30 local time (06:30 GMT) this morning looked like it wouldn't happen at all when Israel put its agreement with Hamas on hold, with less than an hour to go. 

It accused the militant group of having failed to hand over the names of Israeli hostages it planned to release, which Hamas blamed on "technical" issues.

Soon after, explosions were reported across Gaza and the Hamas-run civil defence agency reported that in the time the deal had been abandoned at least 19 more Palestinians had been killed.

But when Hamas did eventually get its list of names over to Israel, the long-awaited ceasefire was called at 11:15 local time and - five hours later - things seem to be developing as you'd expect:

-0- PANA RA 19Jan2025.