Gazans stream home through rubble as truce starts after 15 months of war
Carrying their personal belongings, displaced residents of the Strip celebrate deal; hundreds of aid trucks enter enclave from Egypt

Thousands of displaced, war-weary Gazans set off across the devastated Palestinian territory to return to their homes on Sunday, after a long-awaited truce between Israel and Hamas went into effect following an initial delay.
The ceasefire began nearly three hours later than scheduled, during which time Israel’s military said it was continuing to operate in Gaza, with the territory’s Hamas-run civil defense agency reporting 19 people killed and 25 wounded in bombardments.
Thousands of Gazans carrying tents, clothes and their personal belongings were seen heading back to their homes, after more than 15 months of war — started by the terror group Hamas — that displaced the vast majority of the territory’s population, in many cases more than once.
In the northern area of Jabalia, hundreds of Gazans streamed down a sandy path, returning to an apocalyptic landscape dotted with piles of rubble and destroyed buildings.
In the main southern city of Khan Younis, people celebrated their pending homecoming.
“I’m very, very happy,” said Wafa al-Habeel. “I want to go back and kiss the ground and the soil of Gaza. I am longing for Gaza (City) and longing for our loved ones.”

Although the terms of the deal place no restrictions in general on when Gazans can return to their homes, it does stipulate that movement from the south to the north will only be permitted on day seven of the truce. The IDF established a humanitarian zone for nearly two million displaced Gazans in the south of the enclave.
The truce had been scheduled to begin at 0630 GMT (8:30 a.m.) but was held up for hours after Hamas failed to provide on time a list of the three hostages who were to be freed on the first day.
Qatar, a mediator of the truce, later confirmed it had gone into effect.
The Hostage and Missing Families Forum campaign group, the main NGO representing most of the families of hostages, identified the three women set to be released as Emily Damari, Romi Gonen, and Doron Steinbrecher.
Hamas, meanwhile, said it was waiting for Israel to furnish “a list containing the names of 90 prisoners from the categories of women and children” also to be released on the first day.
A total of 33 hostages taken by terrorists during Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel will be returned from Gaza during an initial 42-day truce, in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians in Israeli custody.
The truce is intended to pave the way for a permanent end to the war, but a second phase has yet to be finalized, and that is to be followed by a third phase, also not yet agreed upon.
It follows a deal struck by mediators Qatar, the United States, and Egypt after months of negotiations.
In a televised address on Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the 42-day first phase a “temporary ceasefire” and said Israel had US support to resume the war if necessary.
‘Full of hope’
In Gaza City, well before the ceasefire went into effect, people were already celebrating, waving Palestinian flags in the street.
But when it became clear the truce had been delayed, the joy gave way to desperation for some.
“Enough playing with our emotions — we’re exhausted,” said Maha Abed, a 27-year-old displaced from Rafah.
The Israeli army warned Gaza residents early Sunday not to approach its forces or Israeli territory.
“We urge you not to head towards the buffer zone or IDF forces for your safety,” military spokesman Avichay Adraee said on Telegram, adding that “moving from south to north via Gaza Valley puts you at risk.”

In Israel, the ceasefire was met with guarded optimism.
“I don’t trust our side or their side,” said taxi driver David Gutterman. “Always at the last moment something, a problem, can pop up, but all in all I’m really happy.”
Shai Zaik, an employee at Tel Aviv’s art museum, said he had “mixed feelings,” but was “full of hope” that the hostages would return.
“We had so many disappointments in the last year,” he said, “so we won’t believe it until it really happens until we see them (the hostages) with our own eyes, and then we will be happy I hope.”
Israel has prepared facilities to provide medical treatment and counseling to the freed hostages before they return to their families after their long ordeal.

Many in Israel, including families of hostages, fear that captives who are not released in the first stage could remain indefinitely in Gaza should the truce collapse before the second and third phases are seen through. In addition, there is concern over the large number of Palestinian security prisoners that Israel is releasing in return for the hostages, many of whom were convicted of deadly terror attacks.
Underlining the political divide over the deal, the far-right Otzma Yehudit party quit the government on Sunday in protest of the agreement.
Aid trucks enter Gaza
Trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza as the truce went into effect, the United Nations said.
“First trucks of supplies started entering” minutes after the ceasefire took effect on Sunday morning, UN aid official Jonathan Whittall, interim chief of the UN’s OCHA aid agency for the Palestinian territories, said on X.
“A massive effort has been underway over the past days from humanitarian partners to load and prepare to distribute a surge of aid across all of Gaza.”
The UN did not give details on where the shipments entered Gaza, but an Egyptian source speaking on condition of anonymity said that “197 trucks of aid and five of fuel entered through the crossing of Kerem Shalom between Israel and Gaza and that of al-Oga” and Nitzana between Egypt and Israel.
Some of the trucks were carrying prefabricated housing units.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said 600 trucks a day would enter Gaza after the ceasefire took effect, including 50 carrying fuel.
The war’s only previous truce, for one week in November 2023, also saw the release of hostages held by terrorists in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack, the deadliest in Israel’s history, killed 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Ninety-four of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 40 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors.
Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the body of an IDF soldier who was killed in 2014.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 46,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it killed some 18,000 combatants in battle as of November and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7, 2023, when the war started.
Israel has said it sought to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
The truce took effect on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration for a second term as president of the United States.
Trump, who claimed credit for the ceasefire deal after months of effort by the outgoing administration of President Joe Biden, told US network NBC on Saturday that he had told Netanyahu the war “has to end.”
“We want it to end, but to keep doing what has to be done,” he said.

Brett McGurk, Biden’s point man, was joined in the region by Trump envoy Steve Witkoff in an unusual pairing to finalize the agreement, US officials said.
Under the deal, Israeli forces will withdraw from densely populated areas of Gaza and allow displaced Palestinians to return “to their residences,” Qatar’s prime minister said in announcing the deal.