Palestinians Return to Ruined Gaza Homes as Ceasefire Takes Effect, Hostage Releases Set for Monday

On Friday, along a coastal road in central Gaza, a steady stream of people, nearly all of them on foot, pushed north toward whatever was left of their homes. A U.S.-brokered ceasefire had taken effect, and tens of thousands of Palestinians were heading back to the heavily destroyed northern Gaza Strip. It repeated the scenes from the last ceasefire, in January. Others went to different parts of the territory in the south.

The Israeli military confirmed the truce had begun. Palestinians said the 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. In exchange, Israel is set to free around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. A list Israel published Friday did not include Marwan Barghouti, the most popular Palestinian leader and a potentially unifying figure. Israel views him and other high-profile prisoners as terrorists and has refused to release them in past exchanges. Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official and lead negotiator, said Thursday evening that all women and children held in Israeli jails will be freed. Two Egyptian officials and a Hamas official said the releases are expected to begin Monday, though another official said they could come as early as Sunday night.

What the returning families find will be worse than in January. In recent weeks Israel waged a new offensive in Gaza City, bombing high-rises and blowing up homes in what it said was an effort to destroy Hamas' remaining military infrastructure. 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 Khan Younis, 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 rubble. Hani Omran described arriving at a place he could not identify. Jamal Mesbah, who was displaced from the north and plans to return, said there was not much joy, but that the ceasefire eased somewhat the pain of the dead and bloodshed.

The scale behind those scenes is large. The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. In Israel's offensive, more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 170,000 wounded, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry does not separate civilians from combatants but says around half 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. About 90% of Gaza's roughly 2 million people have been displaced, often several times.

Aid is meant to follow quickly. A U.N. official, speaking anonymously, said Israel had approved scaled-up deliveries starting Sunday, including 170,000 metric tons already positioned in countries such as Jordan and Egypt. U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said fuel, medical supplies and other critical materials had started moving through the Kareem Shalom crossing. The U.N. wants more crossings opened and safe movement for aid workers and returning civilians. U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher 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, which Israeli officials deny.

The larger questions are unresolved. Under President Trump's plan, Israel would keep an open-ended military presence along Gaza's border, an international force drawn largely from Arab and Muslim countries would handle security inside, and the U.S. would lead an internationally funded reconstruction. The plan envisions a role for the Palestinian Authority, which Netanyahu has long opposed, but only after a reform program that could take years. It is vaguer on a Palestinian state, which Netanyahu firmly rejects. The Israeli military says it will keep operating defensively from the roughly 50% of Gaza it still controls. Netanyahu, who unilaterally ended a ceasefire in March, said Hamas must disarm and Gaza be demilitarized, the easy way or the hard way.

For hostage families, the mood is cautious. Stephen Brisley, speaking from South Wales, lost his sister Lianne Sharabi and her two teenage daughters in the Oct. 7 attack. Her husband Eli Sharabi was later released, but his brother Yossi is believed to have died in an airstrike in January 2024. The family hopes to bury him with dignity. Brisley said they hold hope lightly, having had it dashed before. The coming days, starting with the hostage and prisoner releases and the first scaled-up aid convoys, will show how far that hope can carry.