Israel-Gaza ceasefire live: I’ve returned to life, says freed UK hostage

The hostages will be handed by Hamas to Red Cross officials who will take them to the Israeli military in Gaza. The military has set up three locations near the northern, central and southern edges of Gaza in Erez, Re’im and Kerem Shalom to take charge of the hostages, depending on the route they take out.

In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, buses on Sunday carried the first wave of released Palestinian prisoners to Ramallah.

Israel is also expected to release some Palestinian prisoners into Gaza. It will deport others to Egypt with the understanding that they will be settled in a third country, with Qatar, Turkey or Algeria as possible destinations, an official involved in the plans told Reuters.

A further three people have been charged with public order and assault offences following a pro-Palestinian rally in central London on Saturday, the Crown Prosecution Service has said.

Benjamin Jamal, 61, of Barnfield Avenue, Kingston upon Thames, was charged with public order offences, including inciting people to fail to comply with conditions and will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on February 21.

Jamila Zadran, 32, of Caulfield Road, East Ham, was charged with assaulting an emergency worker.

Luke Jacobs, 22, of Kingsgate Road, West Hampstead, was charged with obstructing a police officer and criminal damage.

Jacobs will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday February 17 and Zadran on Wednesday February 19.

Two men aged 75 and 73 who attended voluntary interviews following the protest have been released pending further investigations, the CPS added.

The Israeli military said shortly before the ceasefire began that it had recovered the body of a soldier who had been killed in Gaza a decade ago. That left 97 hostages in Gaza at the start of the truce. Israeli authorities believe around half of them are alive though they have yet to receive confirmation from Hamas.

The 33 hostages slated for release in the first ceasefire phase include women, children, men over 50 and ill and wounded captives. The first three hostages were released on Sunday and were all women: Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari.

In return, Israel will release nearly 2,000 Palestinians from its jails. They include 1,167 people detained in Gaza during the war and held in Israel, and 737 other Palestinian prisoners from the West Bank, Jerusalem or Gaza. So far, 90 Palestinians have been released from Israeli detention under the ceasefire deal: 69 women and 21 teenage boys.

The second category includes members of militant groups, some awaiting trial, some held by Israel in administrative detention without charge and some who have been convicted of crimes, including attacks that killed dozens of Israelis.

During the first phase of the ceasefire, the Israeli army will pull back from some positions in Gaza and Palestinians displaced from areas in northern Gaza will be allowed to return.

A second phase, exchanging the remaining hostages and completing the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, is expected to follow, depending on the results of negotiations.

Emily Damari is doing “remarkably well” following the British-Israeli’s release as a hostage yesterday, according to her family lawyer.

Adam Rose told BBC Breakfast this morning: “Emily seems to be doing remarkably well. She was taken on the 7th October 2023, she was shot in the hand, and she seems to have lost two of her fingers. She was shot in the leg. The family dog was killed.

“So she was taken away in these horrific circumstances. Mandy, her mother, was on the kibbutz where she lived as well and experienced the whole thing, but managed to get away.”

Ms Damari was “radiating joy” after her release, which her family were only informed about shortly after 8am on Sunday, Mr Rose said.

The family lawyer representing the British-Israeli hostage released by Hamas on Sunday said it was “both a remarkable time and a troubling time”.

Emily Damari was reunited with her family after being held in captivity for more than 15 months.

Speaking to LBC, Adam Rose said: “It’s incredibly challenging what they’ve gone through. We know from hostages who’ve been released in earlier rounds of ceasefires in November 2023 that some of them just picked themselves up and got on with lives, and some of them have been really deeply scarred by what they experienced.

Asked how confident he was that the ceasefire would hold, Mr Rose said: “We’ve got three other clients who are very closely connected to the UK, and two of those are on this list, and one isn’t. So we’re operating on the basis that the other two will come out who are on the list.

“We have to hope that this works, that every week, another three or four hostages will come out.

“We know the Israeli authorities believe that the majority of these hostages are alive, but that does mean a minority of these hostages are not alive, and as every week passes and more live hostages come out, just the maths means that for a number of these families, who’ve waited 470-odd days now, and will have waited 500-odd days then, only to find out that their family member is actually dead and they’re getting a body bag back rather than a family member is just too horrific to contemplate.”

UK foreign secretary David Lammy has said reconstructing Gaza will be a “huge task”.

“The devastation, destruction, the catastrophic situation that Gazans find themselves in, I’ve described as hell on Earth, and the continuous displacement of people has been thoroughly, thoroughly intolerable,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“This is a huge task, and those that are reconstructing Gaza want to be assured that 20, 25 years from now … another foreign secretary is not on the Today programme talking yet again about destruction.

“Can we, this time, actually set about a process that delivers change and that two states, that just cause, that the Palestinian cause quite rightly is.”

The mother of another freed Israeli hostage has spoken of needing “a moment to breathe it in and believe in the reality we achieved together” as she called for the release of the remaining captives.

In some of her first comments since the release of her daughter Romi Gonen, Meirav Leshem Gonen wrote in a post on social media this morning: “It will take me, for us, a moment to breathe it in and believe in the reality we achieved together. I promise to come back.

“There are 97 more loved ones that need a reality like this.”

Following the release of the three Israeli hostages on Sunday, there are now 94 remaining, not 97.

The mother of the freed British-Israeli hostage has said she was “finally able to give Emily the hug that I have been dreaming of” as she described the “incredibly happy moment for our family” and thanked all who campaigned for her daughter’s freedom.

In a statement issued from Shefayim in Israel on Monday, Mandy Damari, mother 28-year-old Emily Damari, said: “Yesterday, I was finally able to give Emily the hug that I have been dreaming of.

“From the bottom of my heart, I would like to thank the many people who have played a role in bringing Emily home and given their support to me and my family. As I said over the course of the campaign, you are all Emily’s family.”

Emily, who is a dual British-Israeli citizen, was among the three Israeli hostages who were the first to be free under the Gaza ceasefire deal that came into effect yesterday.

Her mother continued: “I am relieved to report that after her release, Emily is doing much better than any of us could ever have anticipated. I am also happy that during her release the world was given a glimpse of her feisty and charismatic personality. In Emily’s own words, she is the happiest girl in the world; she has her life back.”

She added: “As wonderful as it is to see Emily’s resilience, these are still early days. As you will have seen yesterday, Emily lost two of the fingers on her left hand. She now needs time with her loved ones and her doctors as she begins her road to recovery.”

Mandy also highlighted the plight of the remaining hostages who are still in Hamas’ captivity as she called for them to be returned to their loved ones.

She said: “In this incredibly happy moment for our family, we must also remember that 94 other hostages still remain. The ceasefire must continue and every last hostage must be returned to their families.”