Emotional reunions took place across Israel and the occupied West Bank on Friday after a tenuous cease-fire deal allowed Israeli hostages and Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons to return to their homes and families.
On the first day of the temporary truce, 24 hostages held by Hamas, including 13 Israelis, 10 Thai nationals and one Filipino, were released. Thirty-nine Palestinian women and children were also released from Israeli prisons on Friday.
Under the agreement, Israel and Hamas have committed to a four-day pause in fighting, the release of 50 Israeli hostages, and the release of 150 Palestinians who have been detained in Israeli prisons. A White House official told NBC News that three of the hostages to be released by Hamas are American citizens.
Moving scenes of Israeli hostages reuniting with their family members have been shared on social media. In a video posted by the Schneider Children’s Medical Center, 9-year-old Ohad Munder-Zichri, who was taken with his mother on Oct. 7, runs to his father and embraces him after being released.
The Palestinian women and children released on Friday also had joyous reunions with their families. Many had been detained in Israeli prisons for months, even years, some without charge or trial and others convicted of attacks, The Associated Press reported. Celebrations across the West Bank welcomed their return, although Israeli forces warned some families against celebrating or showing joy, Al Jazeera reports. None of the Palestinians who have been or are expected to be released had directly killed an Israeli, according to NBC News.
At least 13 more hostages were set to be released on Saturday, according to NBC News. However, Hamas later said it was delaying the release of the second round of hostages because Israel is violating the terms of the deal.
The pause in bombing has brought momentary relief for Palestinians in Gaza, who have endured a daily onslaught of airstrikes from Israel since Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack. Nearly 15,000 Palestinians have been killed in the past seven weeks, the majority of them women and children, according to the local health ministry. A spokesman for the Israeli military has said that it “will continue the preparations for the next phases of the war” during the temporary cease-fire.
