Gaza ceasefire begins after Israel uses delay to kill Palestinians

Guns fell silent in Gaza on Sunday for the first time in over a year after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into force.
Yet, a three-hour delay proved deadly for at least 19 Palestinians, who were killed by Israeli strikes after last-minute issues over a list of captives.
Just before the truce was about to be enforced, Israel said it would continue its attacks on Gaza as Hamas had not provided a list of captives due to be released.
As Palestinians finally breathed a sigh of relief and began returning to their homes, Israeli jets and artillery began pummelling several areas of Gaza. Emergency services said the casualties included 36 wounded.
Hamas said it was committed to the ceasefire and the delay in providing the list was due to "technical field reasons", delivering it later that morning. Due to begin at 8.30am local time (6.30am GMT), the ceasefire did not start until 11.15am.
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Hanan al-Gidra knew her home in the southern town of Khan Younis was partially destroyed but decided to return anyway when she thought the ceasefire had begun.
"We put all our belongings on the donkey carts and my children left before me with my husband. I stepped away to go grab some of our needs, and then I heard that there was a strike and I knew that it was them," she told Middle East Eye.
"When I got there, I found that my eldest son and my youngest daughter were killed. May God accept them, all praises due to God."
Gidra said they were killed an hour after the ceasefire was supposed to be enforced.
"They were excited and playing and getting ready to go home. They were getting ready to meet their fate," she said. "At least they die as martyrs."
Ramadan Kassab was shelled by an Israeli tank as he inspected his home in Rafah's Tal al-Sultan moments after the truce was supposed to be enforced.
"As we entered the apartment, it was bombed," he told MEE. "My nephew Yousef died and two others were wounded."
'As we entered the apartment it was bombed. My nephew Yousef died and two others were wounded'
- Ramadan Kassab, displaced Palestinian
Mohammed Mushtaha, 29, eagerly awaited the ceasefire to return to his family home in west Gaza City’s Tal al-Hawa after nine months of displacement across various shelters. However, the dream of going back to normalcy quickly turned into a nightmare.
“We haven’t slept since yesterday, thinking about our house,” he told Middle East Eye. “My mother packed all our belongings to avoid wasting a moment when we could finally return.”
At 8.40am, Mushtaha and two of his brothers hurried toward their neighbourhood. But within minutes, their hopes turned into terror as they realised Israeli tanks were still bombing.
“A dreadful sound of Israeli artillery shelling stopped us in our way,” he said. “Passers-by coming from Tal al-Hawa warned us not to proceed. The bombing was still ongoing.”
Half an hour later, when he returned to Shujaiya, Mushtaha received a devastating call from a neighbour. Their four-storey building had been reduced to rubble.
“I hid my tears because all my family members were looking at me, hoping to hear that our house was still standing,” he said. “My mother fainted when I told her the truth.”
Once the ceasefire began for real, celebrations broke out across Gaza, with Palestinians hopeful it heralded the end of the 15-month war.
Fighters belonging to the Qassam Brigades, Hamas' paramilitary wing, also paraded the streets in images that will be galling for the Israeli government, which promised to eradicate the Palestinian movement.
Trading detainees
According to the full text of the truce agreement, the first phase, which will last six weeks, will involve the exchange of 33 Israeli captives and around 1,800 Palestinian prisoners and a return to "sustainable calm".
On Sunday afternoon, Hamas released Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari, who is also a British citizen. They were handed to the Red Cross in the middle of Gaza City and transfered to their families in Israel while crowds in Tel Aviv watched in anticipation.
Israeli authorities were yet to release around 95 Palestinian prisoners - mostly minors or women - on Sunday evening as their families waited outside Ofer prison in the occupied West Bank.
Al Jazeera said Khalida Jarrar, one of the most prominent leaders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), would be among those freed on Sunday.
Unlike previous prisoner exchanges, the Israeli army has imposed strict security measures to prevent public gatherings outside the prison.
Palestinians have been warned not to gather near the prison yard or approach in their vehicles, with successive warnings issued to keep the area clear. The homes of prisoners due to be released were also raided.
As well as the prisoner exchange, Israel will gradually begin to withdraw from the Gaza Strip as part of the first phase, moving eastwards from densely populated areas, including from the Netzarim Corridor and Kuwait Roundabout.
On Sunday, hundreds of aid trucks were poised to enter Gaza as part of the ceasefire deal.
Abu Obeida, Hamas’s military spokesperson, said the group was committed to the terms and timetable of the ceasefire deal.
"We want the deal to be a success to end the bloodshed among our people,” he said.
"The deal...could have been reached over a year ago, yet Netanyahu's malicious ambitions led him to continue this genocidal war.”
Netanyahu threatens continuation of war
On the 16th day of the ceasefire, negotiations will begin over the second phase of the ceasefire.
The broad outline of the second phase is for all Israeli captives to be released in return for a total withdrawal from Gaza. The exact details are still to be negotiated.
Despite strong opposition from elements of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, Israel's cabinet approved the deal in a vote on Friday.
Netanyahu said in a video address on Saturday that Israel would continue its war on Gaza in "new, forceful ways" if the second stage of the ceasefire agreement proved to be "futile".
"President Trump and President Biden have given full backing to Israel's right to return to combat if Israel concludes that negotiations on phase B are futile."
He said that Israel would not rest until "all of its war goals are completed", including the return of all Israeli captives.
Bezalel Smotrich, Israel's far-right finance minister, said that he was given assurances that the war on Gaza would continue and Israel would launch a "gradual takeover of the entire Gaza Strip".
Smotrich and his far-right Religious Zionism party voted against the ceasefire deal but remained in the government after Netanyahu reportedly agreed to several of their demands.
He added that his faction had demanded and "received a commitment" that the method of war would be completely changed.
This included, Smotrich said, "through a gradual takeover of the entire Gaza Strip, the lifting of the restrictions imposed on us by the Biden administration and full control of the strip so that humanitarian aid will not reach Hamas as it has been until now".
However, far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir's Jewish Power party officially resigned from the coalition on Sunday, calling the ceasefire deal a "capitulation".
Israel's war on Gaza has killed at least nearly 47,000 Palestinians, the majority women and children, since the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel, which killed around 1,200 people. More than 110,000 others have been wounded in the enclave since then.
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