A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began on Sunday, halting 15 months of brutal war in Gaza and paving the way for the release of hostages still being held by the Palestinian militant group in the shattered enclave.
The deal for an initial six-week truce offers hope of a pause — and potentially an end — to the bloodiest war in the decades-long history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has left Gaza in ruins, consumed Israeli society and brought the Middle East to the brink of a full-blown war.
The truce, which is the first stage of a three-phase agreement thrashed out by US-led mediators last week after months of failed attempts, had been due to take effect at 8.30am local time (06.30 GMT).
But in an indication of the fragility of the arrangements, it began nearly three hours late, with Israel continuing to bomb Gaza after a delay in Hamas providing the names of the hostages set for release on Sunday.
The chances of the agreement being implemented in full remain uncertain, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu under intense pressure from far-right allies to resume fighting once the first phase of the deal is over.
Israel’s government said the first three hostages — who will be freed in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners — were expected to be released after 16.00 local time on Sunday. The next exchange will take place in seven days’ time, when four more hostages will be freed.
The fighting in Gaza was triggered by Hamas’s shock October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, during which militants killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials, and took a further 250 hostage in the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.
Israel responded with a devastating assault on Gaza, which has killed more than 46,000 people, according to Palestinian officials. It has displaced most of the coastal enclave’s 2.3mn people, reduced much of the strip to rubble and fuelled a humanitarian catastrophe.
Even before the ceasefire belatedly came into force on Sunday, celebrations had begun to spread across Gaza, where many displaced people were preparing to return to the ruins of their homes.
Mohamed Bassal, spokesperson for Gaza’s civil defence agency, said some had begun returning to Jabalia — a devastated area in the north of the enclave — as early as 8.30am local time. “They were targeted by Israeli strikes, but some people still got there and our teams are there,” he said.
Bassal added that civil defence teams were starting to retrieve bodies from areas vacated by the Israeli forces in Rafah and in the north, and that police had started to deploy in cities.
Under the terms of the deal struck by mediators last week, the first phase will involve a six-week truce, during which Hamas will release 33 of the 98 hostages still in Gaza — including children, women, the sick and elderly — in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinian prisoners.
During this time, displaced Palestinians will be allowed to return to their homes, including in northern Gaza. There will also be a partial withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, and the ceasefire agreement also sets out plans for a massive influx of humanitarian aid into the enclave.
By day 16 of the first phase, Israel and Hamas are meant to start negotiating details of the second phase of the deal, during which the remaining living hostages will be freed in exchange for hundreds more Palestinian prisoners, the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and a permanent end to the war.
The final phase is due to involve the return of the remaining bodies of hostages who have died, as well as the beginning of the reconstruction of Gaza, under the supervision of Egypt, Qatar and the UN.
Shortly before the deal went into force, far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir pulled his Jewish Power party out of the government in protest against the deal, reducing Netanyahu’s majority in Israel’s 120-seat parliament to just two seats.
Ben-Gvir’s ultranationalist ally, finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, has also threatened to pull his Religious Zionism party out of the government if the war does not resume after the first stage of the deal. If he did so, it would deprive Netanyahu of his parliamentary majority.
In a statement on Saturday evening, Netanyahu said the administrations of outgoing US President Joe Biden and his successor Donald Trump supported Israel’s right to resume the war if talks over the details of the second phase failed. He also insisted that Israeli forces would keep “full control” of the Philadelphi corridor, which separates Gaza from Egypt.
“If we have to return to combat, we will do so in new ways, and we will do so with great force,” Netanyahu said.
