Ceasefire Holds as Gazans Stream Back to Ruins and Uncertainty
Under a truce that went into effect at midday local time, thousands of displaced Palestinians began a slow, solemn return to the shattered neighborhoods of Gaza on Saturday as Israeli forces pulled back from some urban positions. The first trickle of people soon became a flood, as families who had lived for months in tented camps walked north along the coastal road toward Gaza City, many stepping over rubble and past burnt-out buildings to stand again where their homes once were.
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Scenes on the road north
A long column of people moved in silence through the dust. In the Sheikh Radwan district of Gaza City, Ismail Zayda, 40, paused among the wreckage and said: “Thank God my house is still standing. But the place is destroyed, my neighbours’ houses are destroyed, entire districts have gone.” Elsewhere, in the south, residents gingerly picked their way through what had been Khan Younis — a city Israeli forces razed earlier in the campaign — a landscape of empty shells and memories.
Mahdi Saqla, 40, described his family’s decision to set off north as soon as the ceasefire news arrived. “Of course there are no homes — they’ve been destroyed,” he said. “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.” Many moved without furniture, without winter clothes, carrying what little they could.
Conflicting relief and caution
Joy at the prospect of calm was visible on both sides: there were jubilant scenes in Gaza and in Israel’s Hostages Square in Tel Aviv. Yet military spokespeople urged caution. Brigadier General Effie Defrin of the Israeli Defence Forces told Gazans to “avoid entering areas under Israeli military control” and to “keep to the agreement and ensure your safety” as troops repositioned.
Terms of the deal and the immediate exchange
The ceasefire is the first phase of a US-brokered, 20-point plan proposed by President Donald Trump. Under the initial phase, Israeli troops were given 24 hours to pull back from positions in urban areas while retaining control of more than half of Gaza. Once Israeli forces withdraw, Hamas has 72 hours to release the 20 living Israeli hostages believed to still be in Gaza; in return, Israel will free 250 Palestinians serving long prison terms and 1,700 detainees captured during the war.
The math of the swap — and the logistics of movement, verification and protection — will be pivotal to whether the truce holds. The Hamas-run interior ministry said it would deploy security forces in areas from which the Israeli army withdraws, but it was not clear whether armed militants would return openly to the streets, a step Israel has said it would view as a provocation.
The agreement also foresees a daily surge of humanitarian assistance: hundreds of trucks of food and medical aid are expected to enter Gaza, a critical lifeline for a population beset by shortages after two years of conflict that, according to Palestinian authorities, has killed more than 67,000 people in Gaza.
Political signals and high-stakes diplomacy
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking in a televised address, framed the pullback as tactical: Israeli forces would remain in Gaza to ensure Hamas is disarmed. “If this is achieved the easy way then that will be good, and if not then it will be achieved the hard way,” he said, underscoring that the truce is a pause with conditions, not an end in itself.
Hamas’ exiled leader Khalil Al-Hayya said he had received guarantees from the United States and other mediators that the war was over. For his part, Mr. Trump is due to travel to the region this weekend and could attend a signing ceremony in Egypt — and Israeli authorities said they were preparing for a visit by him on Monday.
Fragile gains, deep uncertainties
The deal, if implemented fully, would mark the most significant step toward halting the fighting since the war began. But there are multiple fault lines. The two sides have yet to publish the full lists of prisoners to be released and which hostages will be freed when. Hamas has signalled it wants prominent prisoners freed — gestures that carry heavy political symbolism and could inflame domestic politics on both sides.
Beyond the immediate prisoner swap and withdrawals are deeper questions about the governance and future of Gaza, whether Hamas can and will be disarmed, and what international role will oversee reconstruction. Who will pay to rebuild neighborhoods that have been razed, and how will aid be distributed in a way that does not deepen factional divides? How will tens of thousands of displaced families be housed through the coming winter?
Global implications
The Gaza ceasefire is also a test of larger trends: the increasing role of hostage diplomacy in asymmetric conflicts; the limits of military campaigns in densely populated urban areas; and the difficulty of translating temporary truces into durable political solutions. The cycle of destruction and displacement witnessed here is not unique to Gaza — elsewhere, from Mosul to Aleppo, cities have faced similar patterns of ruin and slow, fraught return.
Looking ahead
For now, the image that will stick with many is simple and stark: families returning to empty lots, a father standing amid ruins saying he is “happy just to return to where our homes were,” and streets once blocked by tanks now filled with people walking home. That ordinariness is fragile. Much could still go wrong.
Will the exchange be completed on schedule? Will the detained hostages be released alive and reunited with their families? Can humanitarian aid reach those most in need without becoming a new source of contention? The ceasefire offers a pause — perhaps the most hopeful moment many have had in two years — but it leaves open the far harder questions of reconstruction, justice and a political horizon that can keep the peace.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
