Gaza Ceasefire: A Fragile Dawn as First Hostages Come Home

By: Abudu Olalekan

So, a sliver of light. Finally. After weeks of the most brutal noise, a quiet so fragile you’re almost afraid to breathe on it. The guns in Gaza have fallen silent, for now. And this morning, that silence was broken by the most precious sound of all: the first footsteps of people coming home.

Hamas handed them over. The first seven. Just a handful of the twenty surviving Israeli hostages they agreed to release as part of this Gaza ceasefire deal. Red Cross reps were there in Gaza City to take custody, the Israeli army confirming the transfer. Their names started flashing across screens, making them real people again, not just statistics in a nightmare. Guy Gilboa Dalal, Eitan Mor, Matan Angrest, Alon Ohel, Gali and Ziv Berman, and Omri Miran. In Tel Aviv, a huge crowd that had been holding its breath for weeks erupted. Cheers. Tears. A collective exhale for seven families, while so many others keep waiting, their agony stretched even tighter.

The whole thing is a delicate, maddening dance. This initial stage is supposed to see 47 hostages—some alive, some tragically not—exchanged for 250 Palestinian prisoners and a whopping 1,700 Gazans held by Israel since the war kicked off. Hamas even put out a list of twenty names. Israel expects all the living ones to be across the border by midday. A spokesperson for Netanyahu’s office was clear, the prisoner releases happen only after they have confirmation. “Our struggle is not over,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum stated, a grim reminder that this is just the opening act. “It will not end until the last hostage is located and returned for proper burial.” The weight of those words hangs heavy.

And the timing is everything. The world is watching, and a bunch of its leaders are literally flying in to watch from up close. The whole thing feels like a high-stakes race against the clock. Because while this fragile swap is happening on the ground, the bigwigs are descending on Egypt.

Enter Donald Trump. Yeah, him. Air Force One touched down in Israel, a red carpet rolled out for the former US President. Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog were there to greet him. His trip is a whirlwind—Israel first, then off to Sharm El-Sheikh to co-host what’s being billed as a major Gaza peace summit with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The aim? According to the Egyptian president’s office, it’s to “end the war, enhance efforts to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East, and usher in a new era.” Big promises. They’re even talking about a “document ending the war” being signed at this “historic” gathering.

But here’s the kicker, the thing that makes you wonder if any of this can really stick. Neither of the sides actually doing the fighting will be in the room. Netanyahu’s office confirmed no Israeli officials are going. And Hamas? They also said no representatives are attending. So you’ve got the US, Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and a cast of over 20 nations—the UN chief, leaders from Britain, France, Jordan, Canada—all talking about a future for a place whose main actors are boycotting the meeting. Iran got an invite but is giving it a hard pass. It’s a peace summit without the warriors. Let that sink in.

So what does Hamas actually want? A source close to their negotiating committee dropped a bombshell, telling reporters at Reportersroom that the group has “relinquished control of the Strip.” They won’t participate in governing post-war Gaza. But before anyone thinks that means total surrender, they stressed they “remain a fundamental part of the Palestinian fabric.” They’re apparently agreeable to a long-term truce, their weapons silent unless Israel attacks first. But disarmament? That’s still “out of the question,” another official said. So what does “relinquish control” even mean? It’s all so deliberately vague.

Meanwhile, life, or a desperate version of it, is trying to restart. Over 200 aid trucks, including precious fuel and cooking gas, were unloaded at the Kerem Shalom crossing. The sight of empty trucks heading back to Egypt is a sign of a pipeline finally opening. And the people are moving too. Gaza’s civil defence agency says over 500,000 people poured back into a shattered Gaza City on Saturday. Returning to what? Rubble and ruins, most likely. But it’s home.

So this is where we stand. A tense morning where every hostage’s return is a miracle. A surreal peace summit happening in a luxury resort without the key players. And a militant group saying it’s stepping aside while clinging to its guns. This Gaza ceasefire is holding, but by a thread. You just hope it’s strong enough.