Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians returned to the northern Gaza Strip on Friday after the ceasefire went into effect following the partial withdrawal of Israeli troops from the battered enclave.
Some 800,000 Palestinians fled Gaza City over the last two months as Israel extended its military assault to include Gaza City and the surrounding areas.
The daily images of refugees fleeing south have now been replaced by similar images of the same people returning north.
However, many of them are returning to streets and neighbourhoods that have been totally destroyed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), increasing the misery of many as the two-year war comes to an end.
RM Block
[ Who will make up Gaza’s new occupation force?Opens in new window ]
Displaced residents also returned to other areas of Gaza on Friday after the military redeployment, but the IDF still holds about 53 per cent of the enclave at this juncture.
Israel is also permitting a humanitarian surge as part of the ceasefire agreement and says it will allow 600 aid lorries into the enclave every day.
The vehicles will bring in food, medical equipment, shelters and fuel and the aid will be distributed by a combination of United Nations agencies, international aid organisations and the private sector.
[ After two years of bombardment, what remains of Gaza?Opens in new window ]
Palestinians who left the Gaza Strip during the war will also be allowed to return home via the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border.
Israel has completed the list of Palestinian prisoners to be released as part of the ceasefire deal and families of victims of militant attacks have been notified that the attackers of their loved ones are among those to be released under the deal.
The Choose Life forum of bereaved families submitted a petition on behalf of hundreds of bereaved families, demanding that the courts stop the release of detainees who they say are “terrorists who will continue to murder”,
However, Israeli courts have never previously rejected a prisoner release approved by the government.
Israel is freeing 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life terms, most of them for involvement in attacks in which Israelis were killed, and 1,600 people who were detained in Gaza during the war. Most of those being set free will go to Gaza while some will go into exile.
Israeli television and radio stations have switched to blanket coverage before the anticipated release of the 48 hostages, 20 of whom are believed to be alive.
The release is scheduled to take place on Monday, 72 hours after the start of the ceasefire, but it is also possible that some of the captives will be set free on Sunday.
Israel said the hostages will be released without Hamas-orchestrated ceremonies. They will be handed over to Red Cross representatives in Gaza and then transferred to the IDF and taken to a military base over the border where they will be reunited with relatives and undergo an initial medical and mental health examination before being flown by helicopters to hospitals in central Israel.
US president Donald Trump will arrive in Israel on Monday for a brief visit, during which he is expected to address the Knesset parliament plenum.
Barring last-minute complications, phase one of the ceasefire will be completed next week with the hostage and Palestinian prisoner releases.
Phase two of the deal is more complicated with many elements, including the disarming of Hamas, kept deliberately vague and open to interpretation.
Hamas will be stripped of its weapons and Gaza demilitarised “if not the easy way, then the hard way,” said prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu in a statement on Friday, after the ceasefire in Gaza went into effect.
