Palestinian prisoners released as Gaza ceasefire takes hold: Israel-Hamas war Live updates

About 100 hostages, alive and dead, are believed to still be held in Gaza, most of them taken in the deadly Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023. Thirty-three of them will be released in the first six weeks phase of the ceasefire, including female soldiers and civilians, children, men over 50 and sick and wounded people, according to the agreement.

The “majority” of the 33 hostages to be released in the first six-week phase of the ceasefire are alive, an Israeli military spokesman, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, said Sunday in a discussion on social media.

Video released by the Israeli military showed the three hostages are reunited with their families at Sheba Hospital in Israel.

In one clip, one of the returned hostages, Romi Gonen, is surrounded in an embrace by members of his family as they tearfully comfort each other. Yarden Gonen, her sister, who had traveled the world in the past year to lobby for Romi’s release, jumps up and down in the video as the family hugs. In another clip, another freed hostage, Doron Steinbrecher, tearfully embraces his loved ones.

Romi Gonen

Mrs. Gonen was 23 when she was caught trying to leave Nova music festival in southern Israel when Hamas attacked. She then spoke to her mother, Meirav Gonen, who said she had been shot and was bleeding.

Last February, Meirav Gonen released a recording of her last phone call with his daughter. She told Israeli news media that Romi was a strong and happy person who often went to raves.

In the first weeks of the war, her mother expressed concern that Israeli military operations in Gaza could endanger the hostages.

Romi Gonen’s older sister, Yarden, told The New York Times in February that she regularly went to a square in Tel Aviv where families of hostages have held vigils.

“None of us do anything remotely related to our past lives,” she said.

Emily Damari

Damari, 27 at the time of her capture, is the only hostage with British citizenship still being held this month. She was taken from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Azza in southern Israel and stayed seen by a neighbor in his own car, driven by a militant heading towards Gaza.

Ms. Damari was raised in Israel but traveled frequently to Britain, according to her mother, British-born Mandy Damari, who was in Israel last month to speak with officials and the news media and to plead for a hostage and cease-fire deal. She said her daughter had been shot and that she feared for her life, tells the BBC that she had welcomed threats by President-elect Donald J. Trump that there would be “hell to pay” if a deal was not struck upon his inauguration.

Last January, a hostage released from Gaza, Dafna Elyakim, told Israeli news media that she and her younger sister had been taken into Hamas underground tunnels, where they met other female hostages, including Ms. Damari.

On the eve of the one-year anniversary of the attacks on 7 October, Mandy Damari spoke at an event in Hyde Park in London, where she described her daughter as a football fan who enjoyed a drink and had “the classic British sense of humour, with a dash of Israeli chutzpah thrown in for good measure.”

On Sunday, Mandy Damari thanked “everyone who never stopped fighting for Emily through this terrible ordeal.” But, she said in a statement, “for too many other families, the impossible wait continues.”

The Israeli military also released a photo of Emily Damari and her mother, showing her missing two fingers on her left hand. Damari was shot in the hand on October 7, 2023.

Doron Steinbrecher

Mrs. Steinbrecher, who was 30 when she was captured from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Azza, is a veterinary nurse with Romanian and Israeli citizenship. According to Israeli news mediashe was in contact with her family at the kibbutz when the militants attacked and told her parents that they had smashed her windows and shot into her room.

“They have arrived, they have me,” she said in a subsequent voice message sent to friends.

Last January, Hamas released a video clip of Ms. Steinbrecher and two other prisoners, Daniella Gilboa and Karina Ariev, asking for their release.

Last March, on her 31st birthday Jewish News Syndicate published an interview with her mother, Simona Steinbrecher, who said she had looked pale and thin in the video. She said she was concerned that Ms Steinbrecher was not getting the daily medication she needed, although she did not specify what it was.

“She’s a strong woman, but it’s horrible to be there,” said Simona Steinbrecher.

On Sunday, the family of Doron Steinbrecher issued a statement celebrating her release, thanking the Israeli people and expressing gratitude to Mr. Trump “for his significant commitment and support, which meant so much to us.” The statement did not mention President Biden or any Israeli leaders.