Going Home
The first of 33 Hamas-held hostages—three young women—were reunited with their families yesterday (watch their reunions).
Fifteen months of conflict paused Sunday morning, three hours later than expected. Over the next 41 days, women, children, elderly, and sick hostages will be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners every seven days.
A surge of humanitarian aid—up to 600 trucks daily—will flow into Gaza under the deal. Gaza’s displaced population (over 2 million people) will return to war-ravaged homes, their movement managed by Hamas police as Israeli forces withdraw. The governance (and rebuilding) of Gaza wasn’t detailed in the agreement.
On his last day in office, President Biden celebrated that “the guns in Gaza have gone silent.” Israeli PM Netanyahu thanked Presidents Trump and Biden for backing “Israel’s return to fighting” if “second stage negotiations are ineffectual.”
CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE
As you pray for the restoration of hostages, and prisoners, and refugees, remember that our God is a Shepherd who relentlessly searches for lost sheep. He will never tire or give up until the last one comes home to him.
“I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. But I have other sheep that are not from this sheep pen; I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. Then there will be one flock, one shepherd.”
John 10:14-16 (CSB) (read full passage)