Welcome to +972’s Sunday Recap! 

On Monday, nearly 2000 Palestinian detainees were released as part of the first phase of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, over 1,700 from the Gaza Strip. Ibtisam Mahdi reported from the courtyard of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, where although overjoyed by their release in the ceasefire, freed Gazans — blinded, beaten, and starved in Israeli jails — struggled to absorb unimaginable loss.

Local Call’s Oren Ziv reported from Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square on Monday, where tens of thousands gathered to watch a live broadcast of 20 Israelis returning home from captivity in Gaza. But as those who fought for their release celebrate, the government is seeking to recast itself as the hostages’ savior, despite abandoning them for two years.

Amid the celebrations, Ruwaida Amer wrote about the overwhelming shock of learning that her house in Khan Younis, like most of the southern Gazan city, lies in ruins. After the Israeli army razed her childhood home during the Second Intifada, she spent years building a new one for her family — only to be forced to leave it behind in May, when Israel ordered evacuations.

In securing a ceasefire in Gaza, U.S. President Donald Trump clearly aims to prevent any further erosion to Israel’s legitimacy after two years of genocide. But Ahmed Moor argued that a ceasefire must not stall Israel’s growing isolation: as long as Jewish supremacy persists, so should sanctions and arms embargoes.

And Mahmoud Mushtaha insisted that Gazans must decide their own political future — before the world does for them. Palestinians cannot repeat the slow death of Oslo nor replace Hamas with another detached faction, but instead rethink the very foundations of their political culture.

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