The Israel-Hamas War, that has been raging for nearly fifteen months, taking lives of thousands of people on both sides, has finally halted with the first phase of the ceasefire agreement being initiated. After a brief delay over Netanyahu’s demand for list of Israeli hostages, Hamas freed three female hostages after 471 days – Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari.
The much-awaited Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal finally came into effect following a three-hour delay caused by Hamas citing technical field reasons for not providing the list of hostages as demanded by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu under the ceasefire agreement. Romi Gonen (24), Emily Damari (28) and Doron Steinbrecher (31) have been handed over to the Israel by Hamas under a ceasefire agreement following being held captive for 471 days.
The Prime Minister’s Office confirms that Romi Gonen, 24, Emily Damari, 28, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, are in the hands of Israeli forces. “The government of Israel embraces the three returnees,” the PMO says in a statement, adding that their families have been told that they are in Israeli hands. “The government of Israel is committed to returning all of the hostages and the missing.”
24-year-old Romi Gonen, a passionate dancer who studied the artform for 12 years, was held hostage by the Hamas terrorists when she had travelled to the Negev Desert from Northern Israel to attend the Nova Music Festival. In the first few days of the war, Hamas had launched an attack on the music festival, killing over 300 people and holding several others captive.
Romi Gonen was ambushed by the Hamas militants when she was trying to escape the horror; her last call with her mother Meirav ended amid gunshots and screams in Arabic. Romi Gonen’s mother also addressed the UNHRC seeking international assistance in release of hostages from Hamas.
Doron Steinbrecher, a 31-year-old veterinary nurse was a resident of the Israeli village Kibbutz Kfar Aza near the north-western border of Gaza; this village was a major Hamas target during their war with Israel. As the attacks started, as per the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, Doron Steinbrecher hid under her bed and informed her family and friends about the same via WhatsApp messages.
In her final audio message, Doron Steinbrecher was heard screaming, ‘They’ve caught me.’ Her family had no idea about her whereabouts and if she was alive or not for four months; in May last year, her sister Yamit Ashkenazi wrote a letter, calling her ‘sunshine’ and hoping she could feel the energy.
A British-Israeli national, 28-year-old Emily Damari, is the third hostage to be released by Hamas as part of the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement. Like Doron Steinbrecher, Emily Damari was also a resident of Kibbutz Kfar Aza and was first shot in the hand and then taken into Gaza; her dog was also killed during the assault.
Her mother, who was in a separate home at the time of the attack, narrowly escaped the horror; Emily Damari’s family received confirmation that she was alive after March, 2024. Emily Damari is a fan of singer-performer Ed Sheeran and the Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur; fans of the clubs have often chanted ‘She’s one of our own, she’s one of our own, Emily Damari, bring her home’ during the matches, while she remained in captivity.
In return for these three hostages, Israel released 90 Palestinian hostages to Hamas. Large white buses carrying the detainees exited the gates of Israel’s Ofer prison, just outside the West Bank city of Ramallah, as celebratory fireworks erupted overhead. Crowds of Palestinians thronged the buses, chanting and cheering. According to a list provided by the Palestinian Authority’s Commission for Prisoners’ Affairs, all of those released were women or minors.
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