Live updates on Israel-Hamas ceasefire: First hostage released as Gaza ceasefire takes effect

“The rock weighing heavily on my heart has been lifted,” said Dov Weissglas, a former Israeli politician. “We want to bring the hostages home.”

Both men also have a “but.”

Mr. Obeid has not seen his damaged home in northern Gaza for more than a year. He wondered, how much damage was there? Who will rebuild devastated Gaza? And does Hamas still run it?

Mr. Weissglas is worried about the conditions of the hostages who will be gradually freed over the next few weeks from wet areas in the territory. And he winced about exchanging them for hundreds of Palestinian detainees, many of whom are serving life sentences for attacking Israelis. “There is relief,” he said, “wrapped with caution, fear and anxiety.”

That was an apt summary of the mood on both sides of the divide on Sunday, as Israelis and Palestinians expressed a mixture of elation and doubt.

For the Palestinians, the ceasefire means at least six weeks without any attacks on Gaza. That opens the door for Gazans to take the first tentative steps toward reconstruction; searching for relatives still buried in the rubble; and faced the killing of more than 45,000 people, both civilians and combatants, whose bodies were counted by Gaza health authorities. Joyful scenes were broadcast Sunday across the territory, as rescue workers threw confetti; crowds danced and sang amid the ruins; and journalists symbolically removed their bulletproof vests.

For the Israelis, the deal allows for the gradual release of at least 33 hostages taken during a Hamas raid on Israel on October 7, 2023 – an attack that killed up to 1,200 people and sparked a backlash. Israel’s devastating 15-month period. For the released hostages, that means freedom after 470 days of captivity. For Israelis in general, many of whom are tormented by survivors’ guilt, it provides a qualifying catharsis. Echoing that sentiment, friends of one of the first three hostages released on Sunday were filmed jumping for joy after hearing news of her freedom.

But the details of the deal between Israel and Hamas mean both sides still face significant uncertainty about how the next six weeks will play out, let alone whether the expected deal will happen. Will it later become permanent or not? Even the first phase began hours behind schedule on Sunday morning, amid a dispute over which hostages would be released in the afternoon. At the time, according to Gazan authorities, Israeli attacks killed and injured many more people.

Currently, Israel still controls large areas of Gaza and has not agreed to a complete withdrawal, preventing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, like Mr. Obeid, from returning to their homes in northern Gaza. It remains to be seen whether the Israeli military will leave altogether.

“What happens after 42 days?” Mr. Weissglas said. “No one knows.”

Palestinians also remain unclear about the fate of thousands of Gazans held incommunicado during the war and who may not be released in upcoming exchanges. Reema Diab, a housewife in central Gaza, still has no way of finding her husband, a horse trainer, who she said was taken for questioning in Israel in December 2023 and never heard any news since then.

“I feel relieved that the bloodshed is about to end, but my heart aches,” Ms. Diab said. “His absence is unimaginable.”

Across the border, Israeli columnists struck a somber tone, with Ben Caspit describing a mixture of joy and sadness, “inseparably linked.” He wrote that Sunday was a day of reckoning, not celebration, and he emphasized that Israel will now need to confront the scale of its defeat on October 7, 2023.

“Let us be silent for a moment, let us examine our consciences, let us endure the disaster, let us think of those who were killed, murdered, burned,” Mr. Caspit wrote in the right-wing newspaper Maariv. , raped and kidnapped.” daily newspaper.

Israelis also fear for the fate of some 65 hostages who may not be released from Gaza if the deal collapses after six weeks. Similarly, there are widespread concerns that the initial 33 hostages to be released in the next 42 days may be mentally or physically scarred, or even dead. And Israelis often lament that the hostages’ freedom will be gained in exchange for Palestinian detainees, some of whom was convicted of a major terrorist attack as well as teenagers who have never been charged with a crime.

Palestinians consider those soon to be released as freedom fighters and political prisoners. For Israelis, Mr. Weissglas said, it would be a psychological blow to see “this line of murderers let loose.”

Video of Hamas fighters’ triumphant re-emergence from hiding was also a shock to Israelis, who had hoped the war would completely destroy the group’s military capabilities. For many Gazans, it was a celebratory sight, but for others it was a reminder of lingering uncertainty over the future governance of Gaza.

Mr. Obeid works for the Palestinian Authority, which lost power to Hamas in Gaza 18 years ago but still employs a number of Gaza civil servants, including Mr. Obeid, and now hopes to play a larger role in post-war Gaza. Mr. Obeid said in recent days he had been in contact with government leaders in the West Bank to plan potential reconstruction and cleanup operations in Gaza. It remains unclear whether such efforts will be feasible as Hamas remains in power for the next six weeks, and possibly even beyond, he said.

It is also unclear when Israel will allow Obeid, who fled to Egypt last year after being displaced three times in Gaza, to return home.

But all of that can be resolved in time, Mr. Obeid said.

Now, he said, “I can breathe oxygen again.”

Songal Shbair Contributing reports from Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, and Aaron the boxer from Jerusalem.