Lucy Manning
Special correspondent

We can now bring you more images from Emily Damari's video call with her family, after earlier showing her reunited with her mother.

The latest images from the call show Emily - who was held hostage in Gaza for 15 months - with a bandaged hand and two missing fingers, but seemingly in good spirits.

• As our colleague Lucy Manning reported earlier, Emily was shot in the hand and dragged into Gaza from her home in southern Israel during the 7 October attack

The most fragile deal so far?published at 17:23 Greenwich Mean Time 19 January

17:23 GMT 19 January

Lyse Doucet
Chief international correspondent

The history of the Middle East is of wars, peace-making, and deal breaking. So many agreements, signed with cautious hope, have come and gone. Every breakdown seeds more distrust, deeper anger; they strengthen spoilers on both sides.

This deal is, arguably, the most fragile of all. Gaza lies in utter ruin. Israel is scarred by October 7th. Prime Minister Netanyahu, and his allies on the far right, are vowing to stop any path towards a Palestinian state - what Palestinians and capitals the world over believe is the only way to end this endless cycle.

Recent polls show only a minority of Palestinians and Israeli Jews still believe in it. But a recent survey, by researchers on both sides, showed that more than 60% preferred a regional peace based on a two-state solution and normalisation if the alternative was a war on many fronts.

That’s where this deal may be different. Regional powers are more engaged than ever before. And the US, which has always played a pivotal role, will soon be led by a president who’s already proved he’s prepared to exert pressure to stop wars.

Whether that will make the difference will soon be clear. It’s always been said - only warring sides themselves can make peace.

Alex Forster
Reporting from Tel Aviv

Both inside and outside Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv, a concentration of national and international press waits in anticipation.

Whatever the divide in this country as to the merits of the long-awaited hostage deal, the return of the first three hostages is a huge moment for a country still reeling from the collective trauma of 7 October 2023.

Lucy Manning
Special correspondent

This is the moving moment Emily Damari, hugging her mum, has a video call with her brother just after she was released.

The whole family for the first time since 7 October smiling, reunited. Emily looking delighted to be free.

It is a photo that will bring joy to many who campaigned for her release.

Earlier, sitting on a sofa, Emily Damari’s mum and the mother’s of the two other freed hostages watch on a phone the moment their daughter’s returned to Israel.

Emily Damari has after 471 days come out from the darkness to the light, from her Hamas captors to her mother’s arms.

Mandy has achieved her only aim: to hug her daughter once again.

Tonight in a statement she thanked everyone who never stopped fighting for Emily and never stopped saying her name.

Image source, Family handout

Some more details now on this first stage of the ceasefire.

IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari says in a press conference that in this first six-week stage "three to four additional hostages will be released each week".

A Hamas official has also just told AFP news agency that the next hostage-prisoner swap will take place on Saturday.

Hagari also spoke about what went wrong this morning, when the ceasefire was delayed by about two-and-a-half hours.

He says after Hamas failed to submit the names of the three hostages at the agreed-upon time, "we struck Hamas military infrastructure and armed terrorists in vehicles... We will not tolerate deviations from the agreements, as we made clear this morning".

• What else is included in the ceasefire deal?The truce will be carried out in three stages. The first six-week phase of the deal will see 33 hostages returned from Hamas, and Egypt says Israel will release more than 1,800 Palestinian prisoners in return

In their first statement since releasing the hostages, Hamas says they will continue to observe the ceasefire deal that came into effect at 09:15 GMT today.

The group's armed wing, al-Qassam Brigades, says it will follow the timetable of the hostages-for-prisoners swap during the first six-week phase.

But in his video speech, spokesman Abu Ubaida warns that any possible Israeli violations of the ceasefire would threaten the deal, and put the lives of other hostages still being held in Gaza at risk.

"Everything is dependent on the commitment by the enemy," he says, as he urges mediators to keep Israel committing to the deal.

The IDF has shared a clip of the family of 24-year-old Romi Gonen as they watched footage of her release.

Her father can be seen jumping in the air, before breaking down in tears.

In his statement, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer paid tribute to Mandy Damari - mother of released hostage Emily Damari. We've just had this statement from Mandy:

"After 471 days Emily is finally home.

"I want to thank everyone who never stopped fighting for Emily throughout this horrendous ordeal, and who never stopped saying her name. In Israel, Britain, the United States, and around the world. Thank you for bringing Emily home.

"While Emily’s nightmare in Gaza is over, for too many other families the impossible wait continues. Every last hostage must be released, and humanitarian aid must be provided to the hostages who are still waiting to come home."

Image source, Family handout

We've just has this statement from UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, after the release of the three hostages - who include UK national Emily Damari.

"The release of three hostages today is wonderful and long-overdue news after months of agony for them and their families," he says.

"Among them is British citizen Emily Damari, who will now be reunited with her family, including her mother Amanda who has never stopped her tireless fight to bring her daughter home.

"I wish them all the very best as they begin the road to recovery after the intolerable trauma they have experienced. We stand ready to offer assistance and support.

"However, today also represents another day of suffering for those who haven't made it home yet - so while this ceasefire deal should be welcomed, we must not forget about those who remain in captivity under Hamas."

Image source, EPA

Minutes after the IDF confirmed the first three hostages had been handed over, the Israeli president shared his relief the exchange had taken place successfully.

"Romi, Emily, and Doron – so beloved and missed – an entire nation rejoices at your return," Isaac Herzog writes on X.

"We send you and your families a huge embrace. This is a day of joy and comfort, and the beginning of a challenging journey of recovery and healing together."

The three newly released hostages have arrived at Re'im in southern Israel, the IDF says in an update, "where they will be reunited with their mothers".

The statement says the three women are having an initial medical assessment, accompanied by IDF officers.

Alex Forster
Reporting from Jerusalem

Thirty-three hostages are expected to be received by seven hospitals in Israel over the next few weeks. Five in central Israel and two in southern Israel (these two medical facilities nearer the Gaza Strip will be used if the condition of the hostages requires urgent attention). It is expected some hostages returned will be dead.

Like what's happened today, Hamas will hand over hostages to the Red Cross in Gaza. They will then be escorted by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to three dedicated locations established in Kerem Shalom, Re'im and Erez in Israel, and then via vehicle or helicopter to hospitals.

At a briefing earlier in Jerusalem, Prof Hagai Levine, from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, detailed some of the physical and psychological effects the hostages may be experiencing after their captivity in "hell-like" conditions.

Informed in part by the condition of previous hostages when they are returned, harm to the health of captives can be “multi-dimensional and multi-systemic," he said. Damage to cardiovascular, respiratory and immune systems, infectious diseases, bodyweight loss, vitamin deficiency and evidence of sexual assault have all been presented in previous cases of those kept in captivity in Gaza.

Israeli health systems are well-prepared, he added.

Rushdi Abualouf
Gaza correspondent, in Istanbul

Hamas aimed to assert its dominance in Gaza, sending a clear message that it is the ruling authority and will determine the post-war reality.

The scene in Al-Saraya Square in Gaza City symbolised the next phase.

It served as an internal message to opposition groups in Gaza, who have voiced anger over the widespread destruction of homes and infrastructure.

The display of weapons was meant to rally supporters while warning opponents of the potential consequences of challenging Hamas’s rule.

It was also a message to Hamas’s long-standing rival, the Fatah movement, which has plans to re-enter Gaza through border crossings or reconstruction efforts: Gaza remains firmly under Hamas’s control.

This scene reveals only half the truth. The other half is captured in hundreds of videos and photos shared by Gazans, showing the widespread destruction that has devastated large parts of their towns villages and cities.

As we've reported, the three hostages - Doron Steinbrecher, 31, dual British-Israeli Emily Damari, 28, and 24-year-old Romi Gonen - were released by Hamas to the Red Cross in Gaza City.

You can watch the moment below.

The Red Cross then handed them to the Israeli military, who took them into Israeli territory.

While we were following the hostage transfer just now, outgoing US President Joe Biden was speaking to the media. He says today's ceasefire deal was the one he proposed in May and endorsed by the UN.

The "region has been fundamentally transformed," he says.

"After so much pain, death and loss of life, today the guns in Gaza have gone silent."

Biden says Hamas has been badly weakened by Israel and Hezbollah's leadership has been destroyed.

"It now falls to the next administration to implement this deal," Biden adds.

We've got footage of the moment family and friends of Emily Damari begin cheering and chanting her name, after hearing news the British-Israeli has been freed.

She's been held captive in Gaza since the 7 October attacks. She'd been shot in the hand and injured by shrapnel in the attack; her dog was shot and killed.

The IDF has just shared a video that shows the moment the mothers of the Israeli hostages saw their daughters brought back into Israel after 15 months of being held captive.

The mothers of Romi Gonen, Emily Damari, and Doron Steinbrecher were earlier invited by the IDF to Re'im base, near the Gaza Strip.

Image source, IDF

Israel's military spokesman Daniel Hagari, who's also just confirmed that the hostages are now back inside Israeli territory, says the three women are being brought to a facility near the border for an initial check-up before being taken to hospital.

Hagari says during a press conference that the now-former hostages - Romi Gonen, Emily Damari, and Doron Steinbrecher - "are now in safe hands".

"They are in our hands. They are coming home," he says.

Just moments ago, while the hostage release was happening in Gaza, live footage outside Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank showed several Red Cross coaches entering the prison grounds to pick up Palestinian prisoners.

It is expected that 90 prisoners will be freed from Israeli prisons today, in exchange for the three Israeli hostages.

Image source, Reuters

Israel's military says the three hostages have crossed into Israeli territory.

"A short while ago, accompanied by IDF and ISA forces, the released hostages crossed the border into Israeli territory," the IDF says in a statement.

"The released hostages are currently on their way to an initial reception point in southern Israel, where they will undergo an initial medical assessment."