The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) were pulling back from several parts of the Gaza Strip on Friday morning, according to both the Gaza civil defense agency and media reports in Israel.
"Israeli forces have withdrawn from several areas in Gaza City," one senior Gaza official told the AFP news agency, adding that military vehicles had also pulled out from sections of the southern city of Khan Younis.
The moves come after the Israeli government's acceptance of a peace deal overnight, according to which Israeli troops have 24 hours to fall back to positions that leave them in control of 53% of the Gaza Strip. The plan calls for a staggered withdrawal to follow as the ceasefire remains in place.
According to the Times of Israel newspaper, the partial withdrawal was taking place "under the cover of artillery shelling and airstrikes." Those strikes came even after the Israeli government said a ceasefire was in effect.
The Israeli paper reported that the troop movements would be completed by noon local time (0830 GMT), from which point the Palestinian militant group Hamas would have 72 hours to return all living hostages.
IDF: Ceasefire agreement came into effect at noon
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have confirmed that a ceasefire has officially been effect in Gaza since midday, local time (0900 GMT) after troops withdrew to pre-agreed positions.
"Since 12:00, IDF troops began positioning themselves along the updated deployment lines in preparation for the ceasefire agreement and the return of hostages."
The updated deployment line has been referred to as the "yellow line," after its color in the plan for the future of Gaza proposed by US President Trump.
According to the ceasefire agreement, the Palestinian group Hamas now has 72 hours to release all remaining living hostages — of which there are believed to be 20.
In return, Israel has agreed to release 250 Palestinian prisoners currently serving life sentences.
On Friday, Israeli army radio reported that, following "last-minute" changes, 11 of those would now be Hamas-affiliated prisoners rather than detainees linked to Fatah, as previously planned.
Netanyahu: Israeli forces to remain in Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that Hamas "will be disarmed" and that the Gaza Strip "will be demilitarized" in subsequent stages of the ceasefire agreement. He also said, however, that the Israeli military would remain in Gaza to maintain pressure on the Hamas militant group to disarm.
"If this is achieved the easy way, great. If not, it will be achieved the hard way," he said in a televised address on Friday in which he also hit out at critics who he says claimed it wouldn't be possible to recover all the Israeli hostages abducted on October 7, 2023.
"I believed that if we applied heavy military pressure, combined with heavy diplomatic pressure, we would absolutely be able to return all of our hostages," he said, confirming that 20 of the hostages remain alive while 28 are dead. "And that is exactly what we did."
Thanking his "great friend President Trump" for his diplomatic efforts, Netanyahu said his prime consideration throughout the war has been "the security of Israel," saying: "That meant achieving the goals of the war, including returning the hostages, removing the ballistic and nuclear threat from Iran that endangered our existence here, and breaking the Iranian axis, of which Hamas is a central component."
Gaza residents return to rubble of past homes with mixed emotions
Thousands of Palestinians in Gaza were slowly making their way back towards their destroyed homes on Friday, relieved at the ceasefire but exhausted by two years of bombardment and what the United Nations has declared famine conditions.
"We're going back to our areas, full of wounds and sorrow, but we thank God for this situation," 32-year-old Ameer Abu Lyadeh told the AFP news agency in the southern city of Khan Younis. "God willing, everyone will return to their areas. We're happy, even if we return to ruins with no life. At least it's our land."
Areej Abu Saadaeh, a 53-year-old mother whose son and daughter are among the more than 67,000 Palestinians killed by Israeli strikes since the deadly Hamas raids on Israel on October 7, 2023, said:
"I'm happy about the truce and peace, even though I'm a mother of a son and a daughter who were killed and I grieve for them deeply. Yet, the truce also brings the joy of returning to our homes."
Many also wondered what the future of Gaza would look like.
"Okay, it is over – then what? There is no home I can go back to," Balqees, a mother of five from Gaza City who has been sheltering in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, told Reuters news agency.
"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."
