Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Live Updates: Palestinians return along with aid trucks as ceasefire comes into effect

Thousands of displaced Palestinians streamed back towards their abandoned homes on Friday after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect and Israeli troops began pulling back from parts of Gaza.

“As soon as we heard the news of the truce and ceasefire, we were very happy and got ready to go back to Gaza City, to our homes. Of course there are no homes – they’ve been destroyed,” said Mahdi Saqla, 40.”But we are happy just to return to where our homes were, even over the rubble. That too is a great joy. For two years we’ve been suffering, displaced from place to place.”

In Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, some Israeli troops pulled back from the eastern area near the border, but tank shelling was heard, according to residents in contact with Reuters. In Nusseirat camp in the centre of the enclave, some Israeli soldiers dismantled their position and headed east towards the Israeli border, but other troops remained in the area after gunfire was heard in the early hours of Friday.

(Reuters)

Displaced Palestinians walk along the coastal road near Wadi Gaza in the central Gaza Strip, moving toward northern Gaza. (AP Photo/Yousef Al Zanoun)

The U.N. children’s agency has evacuated two of 18 newborns from a North Gaza hospital to be reunited with their parents further south, it said on Friday. Its attempt to move two of the babies was suspended on Thursday amid an ongoing Israeli military assault on the city, but the children have since been reunited with their parents.

“We had 18 babies in incubators at the beginning of week. Two got moved yesterday,” UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires told a Geneva press briefing, saying the others are waiting in incubators for Israeli security clearance.

“I hope this is just an example of what will come after the ceasefire is fully implemented,” he said. Israeli troops began pulling back from some parts of Gaza on Friday under the terms of a ceasefire deal with Hamas.

(Reuters)

Thousands of displaced Palestinians streamed back towards their abandoned homes on Friday after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect and Israeli troops began pulling back from parts of Gaza. A massive column of displaced Gazans filed north through the dust towards Gaza City, the enclave’s biggest urban area, which had been 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 in Gaza City. “But the place is destroyed, my neighbours’ houses are destroyed, entire districts have gone.” Israel’s government ratified the ceasefire with Hamas in the early hours of Friday, clearing the way to partially pull back troops and fully suspend hostilities in Gaza within 24 hours.

Israeli hostages held there are to be freed within 72 hours after that, in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

(Reuters)

Israel will reportedly allow 600 aid trucks into Gaza every day, according to a report by Israel’s Army Radio. They will also let Palestinians who left the Gaza strip during the war to return home through the Rafah crossing.

The 600 aid trucks will be allowed to flow from the south to the north of the Gaza Strip via Salah al-Din and al-Rashid streets, Al Jazeera reports.

The trucks can bring in food, medical equipment, shelter supplies, and fuel – and will be distributed by a combination of United Nations, accredited international organisations and the private sector.

The Israeli military says a ceasefire is now in effect after its forces pulled back to parts of Gaza. The Israeli military on Friday said that the ceasefire agreement with Hamas came into effect at noon local time, and that troops are withdrawing to the agreed-upon deployment lines.

The announcement came after Palestinians reported heavy shelling Friday morning in Gaza, hours after Israel’s Cabinet approved President Donald Trump’s plan for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the release of the remaining hostages and of Palestinian prisoners.

The approval marked a key step toward ending a ruinous two-year war that has destabilised the Middle East. A brief statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office early Friday said the Cabinet approved the “outline” of a deal to release the hostages, without mentioning other aspects of the plan that are more controversial.

(AP)

Israeli army radio said on Friday that 11 prisoners from Hamas will be released instead of 11 prisoners affiliated with Fatah as part of the Gaza agreement, saying there had been a “last minute” change in those who would be freed.

Hamas is expected to release the 20 living Israeli hostages together, 72 hours after the start of the ceasefire.

In addition, Israel will release 250 Palestinians serving long terms in Israeli prisons, as well as 1,700 others who have been arrested since the war erupted on October 7, 2023.

(Reuters)

The war has deepened Israel’s international isolation and upended the Middle East, spreading into a regional conflict that drew in Iran, Yemen and Lebanon. It also tested the US-Israeli relationship, with Trump seeming to lose patience with Netanyahu and pressuring him to reach a deal. Israelis and Palestinians alike rejoiced after the deal was announced, the biggest step yet to end two years of war in which over 67,000 Palestinians have been killed, and return the last hostages seized by Hamas in the deadly attacks that provoked it.

Hamas’ exiled Gaza chief Khalil Al-Hayya said he had received guarantees from the United States and other mediators that the war was over.

Twenty Israeli hostages are still 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 may take longer than releasing those who are alive. Once the agreement is operating, trucks carrying food and medical aid will surge into Gaza to help civilians, hundreds of thousands of whom have been sheltering in tents after Israeli forces destroyed their homes and razed entire cities to dust.

(Reuters)

Israeli troops began pulling back from some parts of Gaza on Friday under a ceasefire deal with Hamas, and some residents returned to shattered neighbourhoods amid confusion over when hostilities will be suspended after two years of warfare. Israel’s government ratified the ceasefire with Hamas in the early hours of Friday, clearing the way to suspend hostilities in Gaza within 24 hours and free Israeli hostages held there within 72 hours after that.

The first phase of US President Donald Trump’s initiative to end the two-year war in Gaza calls for the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, and the start of a withdrawal of Israeli troops. “The government has just now approved the framework for the release of all of the hostages – the living and the deceased,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s English-language X account said.

In Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, some Israeli troops pulled back from the eastern area near the border, but tank shelling was heard, according to residents in contact with Reuters. In Nusseirat camp in the centre of the enclave, some Israeli soldiers dismantled their position and headed east towards the Israeli border, but other troops remained in the area after gunfire was heard in the early hours of Friday.

Israeli forces pulled out from the road along the Mediterranean coast into Gaza City, where hundreds of people had gathered hoping to return to the enclave’s main urban centre which has been under Israeli assault for the past month. Gunfire nearby made many reluctant to move, and only a few were attempting to cross on foot, residents said. Rescue workers in Gaza City began missions in areas they had been unable to reach before. Medics said at least 10 bodies were recovered from previous strikes.

(Reuters)

Last Friday, when Jared Kushner heard that Hamas would begin talks to release Israeli hostages, he was taking calls at his mansion, which sits on a man-made island just north of Miami. He jumped into his car and drove 20 minutes to another mansion — this one owned by billionaire Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace envoy. In those crucial moments, the Trump administration’s diplomatic power centre was not in Washington but in one of Florida’s wealthiest enclaves.

The two property developers, tasked with closing the deal on a key part of Trump’s foreign policy ambitions, got to work setting up a command centre, where they made and received calls from stakeholders — including an impatient president and cabinet members in the Israeli government. The stage had been set for a peace deal earlier that week, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed with Trump on a 20-point proposal for pursuing a peace agreement.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

(Read full report here)

The winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on Friday, in a year overshadowed by a months-long campaign by the US President Donald Trump to win what is arguably the world’s most prestigious award. Trump has been outspoken about his desire for a prize won by four of his predecessors – Barack Obama in 2009, Jimmy Carter in 2002, Woodrow Wilson in 1919 and Theodore Roosevelt in 1906. All but Carter won the award while in office, with Obama named laureate less than eight months after taking office – the same position Trump is in now.

But when Joergen Watne Frydnes, the leader of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, steps to the microphone at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo at 11 am (0900 GMT), experts on the award believe it is extremely unlikely Trump’s name will be read out. To be sure, Trump announced that a ceasefire and hostage deal had been secured between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Wednesday, under the first phase of his initiative to end the war in Gaza. But the committee last met on Monday – before the announcement of the deal. Even if its five members had known about it before making their choice for this year’s award, it is unlikely they would have rushed into a decision they usually spend months debating.

Committee Secretary Kristian Berg Harpviken, who participates in all the deliberations of the five-strong panel but does not vote, said the award was not intended for last-minute achievements. “This is a prize primarily for work done in 2024 and prior years, it’s not a prize for the work done in the most recent weeks or months,” Harpviken told broadcaster NRK early on Friday. Experienced Nobel-watchers have said that a Trump win was extremely unlikely, citing what they see as his efforts to dismantle the post-World War Two international world order the Nobel committee cherishes.

(Reuters)

Under the deal, Hamas plans to release all living hostages in the coming days, while the Israeli military will begin a phased withdrawal from Gaza, AP reported. The agreement, expected to be signed in Egypt, will include a list of prisoners to be released and maps for the first phase of Israeli troop movements. Victims of the prisoners’ attacks will have 24 hours to raise objections.

Five border crossings, including the Rafah crossing with Egypt, are set to reopen. Tom Fletcher, UN humanitarian chief, said 170,000 metric tons of aid and supplies are ready for delivery to Gaza once approved.

The plan envisions Israel maintaining an open-ended military presence along its border with Gaza. An international force, mainly from Arab and Muslim countries, would handle internal security, while the US leads an internationally funded reconstruction effort. The Palestinian Authority may eventually have a role, though it will require significant reform, and the Trump plan offers only vague details about a future Palestinian state, which Netanyahu continues to reject.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Friday that Germany would provide 29 million euros ($34 million) in immediate humanitarian aid for Gaza, following Israel’s ratification of a ceasefire with Palestinian militant group Hamas.

“We are providing 29 million euros for humanitarian aid. Together with Egypt, we will invite to a reconstruction conference for Gaza,” Merz said on X, adding Germany would assume responsibility in the peace process proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

(Reuters)

Indonesia has denied visas to Israeli gymnasts, costing them a spot in a world championship in Jakarta this month, a sports official in the Southeast Asian nation said on Friday, amid outcry over Israel’s military offensive in Gaza. The Israeli team was set to participate in the World Artistic Gymnastics championship from October 19 to 25 in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, which has no formal diplomatic ties with Israel.

“They are confirmed to not be attending,” Ita Juliati, the chief of the Indonesian gymnastics federation, told reporters. The Israel Gymnastics Federation did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. Indonesia decided not to issue visas to the Israeli athletes, senior legal affairs minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra said, citing objections from groups such as a council of Islamic clerics and the government in Jakarta, the capital. The decision is in line with Indonesia’s policy of having no ties with Israel until it recognises “the independence and full sovereignty of the state of Palestine”, Yusril added in a statement on Friday.

(Reuters)

US President Donald Trump has campaigned for a Nobel Peace Prize, supported by some foreign leaders, but experts say he is unlikely to win the award announced on Friday, despite recently brokering a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza. Trump has pursued diplomacy across several global conflicts since starting his second term in January.

(Reuters)

After months of deadlock, President Donald Trump has finalised a long-sought Israel-Hamas ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza, following a weekslong diplomacy effort with significant assistance from Arab and Muslim allies. The agreement is expected to see 48 hostages freed, around 20 of them still believed alive, in the coming days. According to senior US officials, the breakthrough came when a badly weakened Hamas recognised that the hostages had become more of a liability than an asset. Special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner led the negotiations, navigating a complex web of distrust between Israel and its regional neighbours.

The road to the deal was complicated by a September Israeli airstrike in Doha, which killed five lower-ranking Hamas members and a Qatari security officer during ceasefire talks, angering Gulf leaders and straining relations with the White House. US negotiators continued discussions with Qatar, Egypt and other Arab nations to refine Trump’s 20-point peace plan. Two weeks later, Trump met leaders of eight Arab and Muslim countries at the UN, pressing for support while Israel remained diplomatically isolated. Key moments included phone calls between Netanyahu and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, with the latter offering a written apology for the strike, helping clear a path for Hamas’ conditional agreement.

(AP)

Since returning to office, Donald Trump’s attempts to portray himself as a historic peacemaker have been challenged by the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and the persistent conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Now, Trump appears on the verge of a significant breakthrough, having forged a deal that could end the two-year conflict sparked by Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel, which has cost tens of thousands of Palestinian lives. Speaking at a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, Trump hailed the agreement as “something that people said was never going to be done” and claimed it could lead to an “everlasting peace.” He plans a hastily arranged trip to the Middle East over the weekend, including a possible signing ceremony in Egypt and an address to the Israeli Knesset.

Despite the deal, substantial hurdles remain. Israeli lawmakers must formally approve the plan, Hamas must release hostages, and Israel has committed to freeing Palestinian prisoners. Humanitarian aid delivery and the establishment of a transitional government in Gaza also require careful coordination. Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East adviser to Democratic and Republican administrations, cautioned, “It is not a peace agreement. It is not a guaranteed end to the war,” while noting that the plan represents a significant step in breaking the two-year conflict. Dennis Ross, a former US envoy to the region, said the deal “creates some momentum, and it’s quite different from what we’ve seen before.”

(AP)

Israel’s Cabinet early Friday approved US President Donald Trump’s plan for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of all remaining hostages held by Hamas, a key step towards ending a two-year war that has devastated the region. A brief statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the Cabinet approved the “outline” of the deal to release hostages, without mentioning other, more contentious aspects of the plan. An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the ceasefire would begin immediately after government approval, and the military now has 24 hours to pull back its forces to an agreed line.

The broader ceasefire plan leaves many questions unanswered, including whether and how Hamas will disarm and who will govern Gaza. Hamas senior official and negotiator Khalil al-Hayya outlined core elements in a televised speech, including the release of around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, opening the border crossing with Egypt, allowing humanitarian aid, and a partial Israeli withdrawal. He also said all women and children held in Israeli jails will be freed, and that Hamas and other Palestinian factions will focus on self-determination and establishing a Palestinian state.

(AP)

The United States is sending around 200 troops to Israel to help support and monitor the ceasefire deal in Gaza as part of a team that includes partner nations, non-governmental organisations and private-sector participants, US officials said on Thursday. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss details not authorised for release, said US Central Command will establish a “civil-military coordination centre” in Israel to facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid as well as logistical and security assistance into the territory affected by two years of war. The remarks offered some of the first details on how the ceasefire will be monitored and confirmed that the US military will play a role in the effort.

The coordination centre will be staffed by about 200 US service members with expertise in transportation, planning, security, logistics and engineering, one official said, noting that no American troops will enter Gaza. A second official added that the troops will be drawn from US Central Command, which has personnel stationed across the Middle East and other regions. The officials said the soldiers have already begun arriving and will continue to travel to the area over the weekend to begin planning and establish the centre. Members of the armed forces from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates are expected to join the team, integrating with the US personnel and coordinating with Israeli defence forces.

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, praised Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of US Central Command, during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Thursday, noting that he had worked alongside special envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Cooper, who joined the US side of talks in Egypt this week, helped reassure Arab countries that the US would guarantee its commitments, a reassurance relayed to Hamas.

(AP)