The liberation of three Israeli hostages on Thursday, January 30, took place amidst dust and noise. At mid-morning, dozens of Gazans gathered to watch soldier Agam Berger walk through the rubble of the Jabaliya camp in the north of Gaza, destroyed by 15 months of intense bombing. Like the seven Israeli women, both civilian and military, already released under the ceasefire deal reached on January 19, the 20-year-old, escorted by Hamas fighters, was led onto an improvised stage with a "release certification" in her hand.

Proving that Israeli hostages had been held across the Gaza Strip, the staging orchestrated by Hamas and the Islamic Jihad continued further south, in Khan Yunis. In one of the largest gatherings organized since the pause in Israeli military operations, hundreds of civilians massed in the so-called "Street 5" zone. According to the Qatari news channel Al-Jazeera, this is the exact location of the destroyed house of Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader killed by Israeli soldiers in Rafah on October 16, 2024. Live footage shows dozens of Gazans precariously perched as best they can on what remains of the building's roof. Here, the crowd is too compact to set up a stage.

You have 81.83% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.