GAZA: Palestinians poured into the streets to celebrate and return to the rubble of their bombed-out homes on Sunday and Hamas released the first three captives under a ceasefire deal that halted fighting in Gaza.
In Tel Aviv, thousands of Israelis cheered, embraced or wept in a square outside the defence headquarters as they watched live video on a giant screen showing three female captives exiting a vehicle surrounded by Hamas men.
Soon after, the Israeli military said it was receiving the captives, identified by the prime minister's office as Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari. An Israeli official said the Red Cross said they were in good health.
In the Israeli occupied West Bank, buses were awaiting the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli detention. Hamas said the first group to be freed in exchange for the captives includes 69 women and 21 teenage boys.
The first phase of the truce in the 15-month-old war between Israel and Hamas took effect following a three-hour delay during which Israeli warplanes and artillery pounded the Gaza Strip.
That final Israeli blitz killed 13 people, according to Palestinian health authorities. Israel blamed Hamas for being late to deliver the names of captives it would free. Hamas said the holdup in providing the list was a technical glitch.
The truce calls for fighting to stop, aid to be sent in to Gaza and 33 of the 98 Israeli and foreign captives still held there to go free over the six-week first phase in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
When the shooting stopped, Palestinians burst into the streets, some in celebration, others to visit the graves of relatives.
"I feel like at last I found some water to drink after getting lost in the desert for 15 months. I feel alive again," Aya, a displaced woman from Gaza City who has been sheltering in Deir Al Balah in the central Gaza Strip for over a year, said via a chat app.
In the north of the territory, where some of the most intense Israeli airstrikes and battles took place, people picked their way on narrow roads through a devastated landscape of rubble and twisted metal.
Hamas fighters drove through the southern city of Khan Younis with crowds cheering and chanting. Hamas policemen, dressed in blue police uniform, deployed in some areas after months of trying to keep out of sight to avoid Israeli strikes.
The ceasefire agreement follows months of on-off negotiations brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, and comes into effect on the eve of the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, who had said there would be "hell to pay" unless captives were freed before he took office.
There is no detailed plan in place to govern Gaza after the war, much less rebuild it. SEE ALSO P6
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