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Displaced Gaza residents return to their destroyed homes after the ceasefire takes effect
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Displaced Gaza residents return to their destroyed homes after the ceasefire takes effect

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Thousands of displaced Palestinians streamed back to their abandoned homes on Friday after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect and Israeli forces began withdrawing from parts of Gaza.
A huge column of displaced Gazans moved north through the dust toward Gaza City, the enclave’s largest urban area, which came under attack just days ago in one of Israel’s biggest offensives of the war.
“Thank God my house is still standing,” said Ismail Zayda, 40, in the Sheikh Radwan area of ​​Gaza City.
“But the place is destroyed, my neighbors’ houses are destroyed, entire neighborhoods are gone.”

The Israeli military said the ceasefire came into effect at 12:00 local time (8:00 pm AEDT).

Palestinians walk through a street amid the rubble of destroyed buildings in Gaza City on Friday. Source: EPA / Mohammed Sabre

The Israeli government ratified the ceasefire with Hamas in the early hours of Friday, paving the way for a partial withdrawal of troops and a complete suspension of hostilities in Gaza within 24 hours.

Hamas is expected to release the 20 surviving Israeli hostages within 72 hours, after which Israel will release 250 Palestinians serving long terms in Israeli prisons, as well as 1,700 others held in Gaza during the war.
Once the deal takes effect, trucks carrying food and medical aid will rush into Gaza to help civilians, hundreds of thousands of whom have been sheltering in tents after Israeli forces destroyed their homes and reduced entire towns to dust.

The first phase of US President Donald Trump’s initiative to end the two-year war in Gaza calls for Israeli forces to withdraw from some of Gaza’s main urban areas, although they will still control about half of the enclave’s territory.

In a televised address, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli troops would remain in Gaza to ensure the area is demilitarized and Hamas disarmed in the future phases of Trump’s plan.

“If this is achieved the easy way, then good, and if not, it will be achieved the hard way,” he said.

Israeli troops withdraw from Gaza positions

In Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, some Israeli troops withdrew from the eastern area near the border, but residents said tank shelling could be heard.
At the Nusseirat camp in the center of the enclave, some Israeli soldiers dismantled their position and moved east towards the Israeli border, but other troops remained in the area after gunshots were heard in the early hours of Friday.
Israeli forces withdrew from the road along the Mediterranean coast to Gaza City.

As the day passed and it became clear that troops were no longer blocking the roads into the cities, an initial trickle turned into a flood of Palestinians returning from makeshift tent camps to the homes they left behind.

A street is filled with people walking among the rubble and badly damaged buildings of a war-torn urban area.

Displaced Palestinians return to their homes in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on October 10. Source: AP / Jihad Alshrafi

“As soon as we heard the news about the truce and the ceasefire, we were very happy and prepared to go back to Gaza City, to our homes. Of course there are no houses – they have been destroyed,” said 40-year-old Mahdi Saqla.

“But we are happy to return to where our homes were, even above the rubble. That is also a great joy. For two years we suffered and moved from one place to another.”

Israeli military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin urged Gaza residents not to enter areas under Israeli military control: “Adhere to the agreement and ensure your security,” he said on Friday.

Twenty Israeli hostages are believed to be alive in Gaza, while 26 are presumed dead and the fate of two is unknown.
Hamas has indicated that recovering the bodies of the dead could take longer than releasing the living.

The Hamas-led Interior Ministry said it would deploy security forces to areas where the Israeli army was withdrawing. It was not clear whether armed militants would take to the streets in large numbers, a move Israel would view as a provocation.

Trump will visit Israel, possibly Egypt

Meanwhile, Israeli police said they were preparing for Trump’s visit on Monday, which officials said would include a speech to the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, the first by a US president since George W. Bush in 2008.
Trump said he would go to the region on Sunday, perhaps to attend a signing ceremony in Egypt.

Axios reported Friday, citing four sources with knowledge of the matter, that he plans to convene world leaders for a summit on Gaza while he is in Egypt.

The next phase of Trump’s plan calls for an international body – the “Board of Peace” – to play a role in the post-war governance of Gaza.
The plan calls for Trump to lead it and also includes former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Hamas has said it would hand over the administration of Gaza only to a Palestinian technocrat government overseen by the Palestinian Authority and backed by Arab and Muslim countries. It rejects any role for Blair or foreign rule over Gaza.

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