By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
GAZA CITY/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Israelis across Israel celebrated Sunday the release of three women by Hamas, the first of nearly 100 hostages due to return home, dead or alive, following their abduction on October 7, 2023.
Emily Damari, Romi Gonen, and Doron Steinbrecher were freed under a ceasefire deal that also saw 90 Palestinian prisoners leaving Israel’s prisons.
Israeli sources said the hostages initially reunited “with their mothers after 471 days in captivity” but that no ”immediate medical attention was needed.”
However, “it was all for show—for the world to witness their so-called victory,” said Clara Merman, who was held captive in Gaza for 53 days alongside her sister, niece, partner, and brother.
Speaking after the release of Damari, Gonen, and Steinbrecher on Sunday, she recounted how Hamas staged their actions to create an illusion of control and protection during their release. “Hamas told us, ‘Don’t worry, we’re protecting you.’ Protecting us? When the crowd was surging toward us?” she said.
Describing the long and harrowing journey home, she said, “They pretended to guard us, escorting the group while keeping others at bay. But it was all a blatant performance—for the world to see their so-called victory.”
Yet, it also became clear Sunday that Israel’s government still faces an uphill battle to completely fulfill its states goal of eliminating Hamas. “While Hamas suffered many blows from the [Israel Defense Forces], it was able to recruit new members, and it even kept trucks and vans ready to return to the streets and show its presence,” noted Seth J. Frantzman, a Middle East security analyst and author, confirming earlier reporting by Worthy News.
LOSING CONTROL
Writing in The Jerusalem Post newspaper, he referred to video footage showing Hamas apparently emerging from tunnels and rubble in Gaza “to show that it never lost control of most of the area despite fifteen months of the war.”
The footage released Sunday showed large groups of armed men waving to crowds or standing and sitting on vehicles that were parading them through the streets.
“Hamas police, an arm of the terrorist group, are also reappearing. They have been around throughout the war, but their presence has not been as clearly felt in some areas,” Frantzman added.
He stressed that throughout the war, at least some nongovernmental organizations, NGOs, and other international groups “complained that the lack of Hamas police, or their being targeted by the IDF, was leading to a breakdown in law and order.”
Yet, “In essence, many groups linked to the international community that work in Gaza prefer working with Hamas and its police.
Palestinian media, such as Quds, has shown images and videos from Gaza, depicting this as a Hamas victory. They portray the videos as showing “Palestinian factions,” and not just Hamas. They also show civilians celebrating alongside the gunmen.”
However, Hamas did admit Sunday it had lost crucial leaders and allies in Israeli strikes against its infrastructure and fighters.
VICTORY CLAIM
For instance, Hamas leader Osama Hamdan confirmed the death of deputy military chief Marwan Issa in an Israeli strike while adding that ongoing hostage negotiations were “a victory” for the group.
Marwan Issa served as deputy to former Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, who had been eliminated. “The dowry for liberating Palestine was the blood of these great leaders,” Hamdan told Al Manar TV, the network owned by Hamas’ ally group Hezbollah.
He also listed several other Hamas and Hezbollah leaders eliminated by the IDF.
“In Palestine – Brother Abu Al-Abd, Brother Yahya Sinwar, Brother Marwan Issa, or other leaders like Sheikh Saleh Al-Arouri – and in Lebanon, His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, His Eminence Sayyed Hashim Safieddin, Hajj Abdul Qadir, Sayyed Mohsen, and other senior leaders whom we knew and experienced their sincerity.”
Issa was targeted in an Israeli strike in the Gaza Strip in March of last year, with the IDF later confirming he had been killed, Israeli sources said.
Yet, for now, Israel will be forced to maintain a ceasefire with what is left of Hamas if it wants to see the return of other hostages.
Under the terms of the complex three-phase deal, four additional living hostages are expected to be released in seven days.
100 HOSTAGES
Of the nearly 100 hostages still held in Gaza after being taken in the October 7 attack by Hamas-led Islamic fighters, seven are U.S. citizens.
Israeli officials cautioned that four of the seven are dead. Two of those still living are on the list of nearly three dozen hostages Hamas has pledged to release as part of the first phase of a ceasefire deal with Israel.
Following the release of the first hostages, the ceasefire appeared to hold following a war that Hamas-backed authorities claimed killed nearly 47,000 Palestinians. However, those figures have been complex to verify independently.
The war was sparked by the Hamas massacre of some 1,200 Israelis on October 7, 2023, also known in Israel as the “black sabbath,” and described as the worst atrocity against Jews since the Holocaust, also known as the Shoah.
The agreement will be seen now. Fighting paused, and the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli jails being freed.
The multi-stage deal, brokered by mediators the United States, Qatar, and Egypt, will also mean a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from parts of Gaza and a surge in humanitarian aid into the war-ravaged territory.
Some 94 of the roughly 250 people taken hostage on October 7, 2023, remain in Hamas custody in Gaza, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents the families of those who were seized.
FIRST STAGE
In the first stage of the ceasefire deal, 33 still-living hostages are to be freed over six weeks. In return for the release of the captives, Israel will free 737 Palestinian prisoners during the first phase, according to the ceasefire deal. Also to be released are 1,167 Palestinians detained in Gaza since the start of the war and held in Israel.
Among those freed are believed to be suspected or convicted terrorists.
Among the roughly 250 people abducted in Israel on October 7, 2023,!some have died in captivity in Gaza, while others have been released or rescued.
The first phase will also include Israeli troops pulling back into a buffer zone about 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) wide inside Gaza, along its borders with Israel.
On servers day that will allow many displaced Palestinians to return to their homes, including in Gaza City and devastated northern Gaza.
Under the deal, food, medical supplies, and other humanitarian aid will be stepped up, though Israel has claimed that much of previous aid was stolen by Hamas.
The deal requires 600 truckloads of humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza every day of the ceasefire, 50 of which carry fuel, and 300 trucks allocated to the north.
CEASEFIRE PLAN
The ceasefire plan approved by Israel’s cabinet says all trucks entering Gaza will be subject to Israeli inspections.
Negotiations over a second phase of the agreement are to begin “on the 16th day of phase one” and to include the release of all remaining hostages, including male Israeli soldiers, a permanent ceasefire, and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces.
Israel says it will not agree to a complete withdrawal until Hamas’s military and political capabilities are eliminated, ensuring it can no longer rule. Hamas refuses to hand over the last Israeli hostages until Israel ends the war and removes all its troops, complicating a final deal.
A third phase is expected to include the return of the bodies of the dead hostages and the beginning of Gaza’s reconstruction. Scores of hostages are feared dead, though the death toll remains unclear.
There is little detail about the future of Gaza – from how it will be governed to any guarantees that this agreement will bring a permanent end to the war. Within the international community, there have been calls that Palestinians must run Gaza. Still, commentators point out there has not been a consensus about how this should be done.
The release of the first hostages came hours before Donald J. Trump was to become the 47th president of the United States on Monday.
He has pledged to end conflicts in the Middle East and warned Hamas that “all hell will break out” if hostages are not released ahead of his January 20 inauguration.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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