Palestinians Return to Ruined Gaza as Ceasefire Takes Effect; Disarmament and Governance Remain Open

On Friday, a steady stream of people, nearly all of them on foot, packed the coastal road in central Gaza and headed north. A U.S.-brokered ceasefire had just taken effect, and tens of thousands of Palestinians were going back to see what remained of their homes in the heavily destroyed northern Gaza Strip. The scene echoed the one from an earlier ceasefire in January. Others set out for different parts of the territory in the south.

The Israeli military confirmed the truce had started. Palestinians said heavy shelling in parts of Gaza earlier in the day had mostly stopped after the announcement. The remaining 48 hostages, around 20 of whom are believed to be alive, are to be released by Monday. Two Egyptian officials briefed on the talks and a Hamas official said the releases are expected to begin Monday, while another official said they could come as early as Sunday night. All spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to be named.

What the returning families are finding is grim. In Khan Younis, in the south, hundreds of people went back after Israeli troops withdrew and found wrecked buildings and rubble. Fatma Radwan, displaced from the city, said there was nothing left but a few clothes, pieces of wood and pots, and that people were still trying to pull bodies from the debris. Hani Omran described arriving at a place he could not identify, with destruction everywhere. Many buildings were flattened and none was undamaged. The north is expected to be worse still, after Israel's recent offensive in Gaza City, where the military bombed high-rises and blew up homes in what it said was an effort to destroy Hamas' remaining military infrastructure.

The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. In the two years since, more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and nearly 170,000 wounded, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says around half of the dead were women and children. It is part of the Hamas-run government, though the United Nations and many independent experts consider its figures the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties. About 90% of Gaza's roughly 2 million people have been displaced, often several times. Jamal Mesbah, displaced from the north and planning to return, said there was little joy, but that the ceasefire somewhat eased the pain of the bloodshed.

Aid is the next test. A U.N. official, speaking anonymously because details were not yet public, said Israel had cleared the U.N. to begin scaled-up deliveries on Sunday. The shipments include 170,000 metric tons already positioned in countries such as Jordan and Egypt, and are meant to address severe malnutrition and famine conditions. U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said fuel, medical supplies and other critical materials had begun moving through the Kareem Shalom crossing. The U.N. wants more crossings opened and safe passage for aid workers and returning civilians. Tom Fletcher, the U.N. humanitarian chief, said that in recent months the U.N. and its partners managed to deliver only 20% of the aid needed. The International Criminal Court is seeking arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defense minister over alleged use of starvation as a method of war; Israeli officials deny it.

Israel is set to free around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the hostages. The list it published Friday did not include Marwan Barghouti, the most popular Palestinian leader and a potentially unifying figure, whom Israel considers a terrorist. Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas' lead negotiator, said all women and children in Israeli jails will be freed. Among Israeli families, Stephen Brisley, whose sister Lianne Sharabi and her two teenage daughters were killed on Oct. 7, spoke of measured hope, saying families hold it lightly because it has been dashed before. The family hopes to bury Yossi Sharabi, believed killed in an airstrike in January 2024.

The harder questions are unresolved. Israel still controls roughly 50% of Gaza and says it will operate defensively from there after pulling back to agreed lines. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who unilaterally ended a ceasefire in March, said Hamas will be disarmed one way or another, easy or hard. President Trump's plan calls for an open-ended Israeli presence along the border, an international force largely from Arab and Muslim countries inside Gaza, and a U.S.-led reconstruction effort. It envisions a role for the Palestinian Authority only after years of reform, which Netanyahu opposes, and is vague on statehood, which he rejects. The coming days will show whether the hostage releases, the aid surge and the troop pullbacks hold.