People gathered in Paris Saturday evening in support of the hostages held in Gaza, hours before a truce to allow their release was due to take effect. The ceasefire, intended to pave the way to an end of the Israel-Hamas war, was delayed by nearly three hours after Israel said Hamas had failed to hand over the list of Israeli hostages to be released.
Israel on Sunday said a truce with Hamas began in Gaza at 09:15 GMT, nearly three hours after initially scheduled, following a last-minute delay as Israel waited for Hamas to publish the list of hostages to be freed.
During the delay, Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli strikes killed eight people.
Hamas attributed the delay to "technical reasons", as well as the "complexities of the field situation and the continued bombing", ultimately publishing at around 10:30 am the names of three Israeli women to be released on Sunday.
Israel confirmed that the truce would begin at 11:15 am local time.
The ceasefire paves the way for 33 hostages taken by militants during the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel to be returned from Gaza during an initial 42-day period. One thousand Palestinian prisoners are also to be released, though anyone involved in the 7 October attack is excluded.
Hope and fear
On Saturday evening, hostage supporters gathered in Paris opposite the Eiffel Tower, awaiting the ceasefire.
"It's a mix of hope and fear," said Jean-David Ichay, president of the "Tous 7 Octobre" association.
"There's already the fact that only 33 hostages have been announced so far... The rest will either happen later or not at all," he said.
Of the 251 people taken hostage, 94 are still in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Continue to speak up for the hostages
Participants at the rally held up "bring them home" placards with the faces of some of the hostages while a digital counter marked the days, hours and minutes they have been held captive.
"Now, at last, we have hope. Please support us until the last hostage is home," Efrat Yahalomi, sister of French-Israeli hostage Ohad Yahalomi, said from a stage.
Yahalomi and another dual national Ofer Kalderon are the two remaining French-Israeli hostages. They were both captured from Kibbutz Nir Oz during the 7 October attack.
French President Emmanuel Macron has said they are among those due to be freed in the first phase.
'France does not abandon its children' Macron tells families of Gaza hostages
That stage will also see the release of 737 Palestinian prisoners, Israel's justice ministry said, starting from 4:00 pm (1400 GMT) on Sunday.
Moshe Lavi said his brother-in-law Omri Miran, 47, was not among those expected to be released.
"We rejoice for those who will be reunited. But for us and for so many others, our fight continues," he said.
"We call on the public to not fall into euphoria but to continue to come to rallies and speak up for the hostages."
Hamas's 7 October, 2023 attack on Israel triggered the war and resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel's retaliatory campaign has destroyed much of Gaza, killing 46,899 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.
(with AFP)
