Friday, 10 October 2025
Friday, 10 October 2025
A ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas for the Gaza Strip came into effect at noon local time on Friday, the Israeli military said, adding that troops were withdrawing to agreed-upon deployment lines.
The announcement came hours after Israel's Cabinet approved President Donald Trump's plan for a ceasefire, the release of remaining hostages, and Palestinian prisoners.
Tens of thousands of people who had gathered in Wadi Gaza in central Gaza began walking north after the announcement. Palestinians had reported heavy shelling throughout the morning.
The Cabinet’s approval marks a step toward ending a two-year war that has devastated Gaza and destabilised the region.
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. “We will expand the circle of peace,” the Israeli PM said.
An Israeli security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the military would retain control of roughly half of Gaza in its new positions.
Even as the ceasefire was approved, shelling continued. In central Gaza's Nuseirat refugee camp, Mahmoud Sharkawy, sheltering there after being displaced from Gaza City, said artillery fire had intensified.
“The shelling has significantly increased today,” AP quoted him, adding that low-flying military aircraft were overhead. In northern Gaza, two Gaza City residents told The Associated Press that bombing had been ongoing since the early hours, mostly artillery shelling.
The managing director of Shifa hospital, Rami Mhanna, said shelling in southern and northern Gaza City had not stopped after the Cabinet’s approval.
“It is confusing, we have been hearing shelling all night despite the ceasefire news,” said Heba Garoun, who fled her home in eastern Gaza City after it was destroyed.
In March, 2024, Israeli forces conducted a ground raid and "precise operation" at Al-Shifa Hospital aimed at Hamas militants present there, including its alleged use as a militant command center. During this raid, Israeli forces entered with tanks, opened fire, and caused structural damage including fires in the hospital's surgical building.
In November, 2023, the hospital suffered about five strikes with projectiles, damaging parts of the facility, including the maternity ward, resulting in casualties. Israel claimed one projectile was a misfired militant rocket.
A senior Hamas official and lead negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, outlined the core elements of the ceasefire deal: Israel would release around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, open the border crossing with Egypt, allow aid to flow, and withdraw forces from some positions.
He said all women and children held in Israeli jails would be freed. “We declare today that we have reached an agreement to end the war and the aggression against our people,” he said in a televised speech Thursday evening.
The Trump administration and mediators assured that the war is over, with Hamas and other Palestinian factions focusing on self-determination and the establishment of a Palestinian state.
US officials said about 200 troops would be sent to Israel as part of an international team to help monitor the ceasefire. Israeli army radio reported a last-minute change in the prisoners to be released, with 11 Hamas prisoners replacing 11 Fatah prisoners.
Hamas is expected to release the 20 living Israeli hostages together, 72 hours after the ceasefire begins. Israel will release 250 Palestinians convicted or suspected of security crimes, along with 1,700 others arrested during the war, and the bodies of 360 fighters.
Prisoners convicted of killing Israelis will either be released to Gaza or deported abroad and barred permanently from the West Bank and Israel.
Humanitarian aid will flow into Gaza, with 600 trucks carrying food, medical equipment, shelter materials, fuel, and equipment to repair infrastructure expected to enter daily.
Gaza residents can leave to Egypt via the Rafah crossing under Israeli approval and EU supervision. Netanyahu said Israeli forces will remain in Gaza to maintain pressure on Hamas until the group disarms, adding that all hostages will return in the coming days.
The U.N. children's agency has evacuated two of 18 newborns from a North Gaza hospital to reunite with their parents further south. The remaining infants await Israeli security clearance.
Israeli troops began pulling back from parts of Gaza on Friday. Thousands of Palestinians moved north along the coastal road, anxious to see what remained of their homes.
Almost all of Gaza’s 2.2 million population has been displaced since the war erupted in October 2023, when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.
Israel’s retaliatory air and ground operations killed over 67,000 people, reduced much of the coastal Gaza Strip to rubble, and triggered a humanitarian crisis. Despite the ceasefire, many Palestinians said little remained of the lives they once knew.
"Okay, it is over – then what? There is no home I can go back to," said Balqees, a mother of five from Gaza City sheltering in Deir al-Balah, reported Reuters. "They have destroyed everything. Tens of thousands of people are dead, the Gaza Strip is in ruins, and they made a ceasefire. Am I supposed to be happy? No, I am not.”
Mustafa Ibrahim, an activist and human rights advocate from Gaza City, echoed the sentiment. "Laughter has vanished and tears have run dry," he said. "The people of Gaza are lost, as if they are the walking dead, searching for a distant future."
Some former residents returned even before the ceasefire went into effect, reaching as far as the northwest suburb of Sheikh Radwan.
Among them was Ismail Zayda, 40, who went to check his house. "Thank God, my house is still standing," he said. "But the area is destroyed, my neighbours’ houses are destroyed – entire districts are gone."
For some, returning even to the remnants of their homes was a relief. "Of course, there are no homes – they've been destroyed – but we are happy just to return to where our homes were, even over the rubble," Mahdi Saqla, 40, said as he stood by a makeshift tent in central Gaza. "That, too, is a great joy."
