As the Gaza ceasefire takes hold, aid workers caution that the toughest challenges are yet to come, describing the truce as only the first step on a long road to recovery.

The Israel-Hamas war has devastated the Gaza Strip. Satellite photos offer some sense of the destruction in the territory.

A cease-fire agreement between Israel and terrorist group Hamas began Sunday with the release of three Israeli hostages, in exchange for some 90 Palestinian prisoners in.

During his Angelus address, the Holy Father also expressed his hope that all hostages “may finally return home and embrace their loved ones.”

Rarely seen in the open while the war raged, masked and armed fighters spread out publicly through Gaza’s cities in a show of force on Sunday.

Three female hostages freed by Hamas were reunited with their mothers inside Israel, Reuters reports.Armed Hamas fighters drove through the southern city of Khan Younis with crowds cheering and chanting.

The three women were in stable condition, Sheba Medical Center said, and authorities released footage of them reuniting with their families, hugging fiercely and sobbing.

Displaced Palestinians leave parts of Khan Younis as they go back to their homes in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi) A Red Cross convoy arrives to collect Israeli hostages released after a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas took effect,

Palestinians began searching on Monday for thousands of Gazans believed still buried under rubble, as residents expressed shock at the devastation wrought by 15 months of war on the enclave on the second day of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Hamas' military wing, the Qassam Brigades, released a propaganda video on Sunday night, showing the handover of three Israeli hostages—Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher, and Emily Damari—in Gaza City. A striking detail in the footage was that each of the freed hostages received a paper bag bearing the Qassam Brigades' logo before stepping into a Red Cross SUV.

Thousands of families have started walking or dragging carts from displacement camps in Gaza City toward the razed towns and cities of Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip.