On October 10, 2025, a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect in Gaza, hours after Israel’s cabinet approved a deal to pause the war and exchange hostages for Palestinian prisoners. Tens of thousands of Palestinians began moving back toward the heavily destroyed northern Gaza Strip as the military said the truce had started, marking the first concrete step in a plan that had been negotiated through U.S. and regional mediation.
AP said the Israeli military confirmed the start of the ceasefire on Friday and that the remaining 48 hostages were expected to be released within days, with around 20 believed to be alive. The military also said it would continue operating defensively from the roughly 50% of Gaza it still controlled after withdrawing to agreed-upon lines. That detail mattered because it showed the ceasefire was not a full withdrawal but an initial repositioning that left the army with a large presence.
The deal also opened the door to a surge of humanitarian aid. A U.N. official said Israel had approved a scaled-up aid operation beginning Sunday, with 170,000 metric tons of supplies already positioned in neighbouring countries such as Jordan and Egypt. Fuel, medicine and other critical materials began moving through the Kerem Shalom crossing, while humanitarian agencies pressed for more border crossings and safer movement for civilians and aid workers.
Yet the hardest issues were still unresolved. Netanyahu said Hamas would have to disarm and Gaza would need to be demilitarised, and the AP report noted that the broader ceasefire still left open the questions of who would govern Gaza and how that transition would work. The truce paused a war that had killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population, but it did not settle the political endgame.
On the ground, the change was visible and emotional. A steady stream of people, most on foot and many carrying what little they could, moved north along the coastal road to see what remained of their homes. Others found only rubble in Khan Younis and elsewhere. The ceasefire brought relief, but it also exposed the scale of the destruction and the fragility of a deal that could still break apart if the follow-on talks failed.
The aid component is central because the ceasefire was supposed to be more than a pause in shelling. AP said the United Nations had 170,000 metric tons of supplies already positioned in neighbouring countries and ready to move into Gaza when allowed, but that the mechanics of crossings and convoy movement still had to be worked out.
The scenes on the ground showed why that mattered. Palestinians were moving north along the coast to see what remained of their homes, while others in Khan Younis found only rubble, broken wood and a few pieces of clothing. That is the distance between a signed ceasefire and actual recovery: the shooting may slow first, but the damage remains visible everywhere people try to return.
The scale of the return north also made clear how much Palestinians were willing to risk to see what remained of their neighbourhoods. People were returning to rubble because the alternative was staying displaced indefinitely, and that helps explain why even a fragile pause in the fighting felt like a major shift on the ground.
