Israeli forces declared a ceasefire and withdrew from some positions in Gaza on Friday, as thousands of displaced Palestinians began to trek home and the families of October 7 hostages awaited news
\n NUSEIRAT
\nPalestinian Territories, Oct 10, 2025 : Israeli forces declared a ceasefire and withdrew from some positions in Gaza on Friday, as thousands of displaced Palestinians began to trek home and the families of October 7 hostages awaited news.
\nThe Israeli army said that its troops had ceased fire at noon (0900 GMT) \u201cin preparation for the ceasefire agreement and the return of hostages.\u201d
\nGaza\u2019s civil defense agency said Israeli troops and armored vehicles were pulling back from forward positions in both Gaza City and Khan Yunis, and displaced Palestinian civilians told AFP they hoped to return home.
\nThousands of civilians could be seen by AFP journalists walking along a raised route on Gaza\u2019s waterfront, as displaced Palestinians sought to return home after two years of intense fighting.
\nWounds and sorrow
\n\u201cWe\u2019re going back to our areas, full of wounds and sorrow, but we thank God for this situation,\u201d 32-year-old Ameer Abu Lyadeh told AFP in Khan Yunis.
\n\u201cGod willing, everyone will return to their areas. We\u2019re happy \u2014 even if we return to ruins with no life, at least it\u2019s our land.\u201d
\nIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s office said that the government has approved a framework of a hostage release deal with Hamas, and the military confirmed it was \u201cin the midst of adjusting operational positions in the Gaza Strip.\u201d
\nBefore the ceasefire was announced, some fighting continued. An AFP video journalist filming Gaza from Israel reported large plumes of smoke and dust rising above northern Gaza on Friday morning.
\nContacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it was checking reports of new strikes. Gaza civil defense official Mohammed Al-Mughayyir said a municipal worker had been killed by Israeli fire.
\nIsrael had previously said all parties had signed the first phase of a ceasefire agreement at talks this week in Egypt, adding that Hamas freeing its remaining Israeli captives alive and dead would \u201cbring the end to this war.\u201d
\nThe agreement followed a 20-point peace plan announced last month by US President Donald Trump, who plans to leave on Sunday for the Middle East.
\nEgypt is planning an event to celebrate the conclusion of the deal, while the families of 47 hostages taken during Hamas\u2019s October 7, 2023 attack are waiting for their loved ones\u2019 return.
\nDespite celebrations in Israel and Gaza and a flood of congratulatory messages from world leaders, many issues remain unresolved, including Hamas\u2019s disarmament and a proposed transitional authority for Gaza led by Trump.
\nSenior Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Qatar-based broadcaster Al Araby the Palestinian Islamist movement rejects this idea.
\nTrump said the issue of Hamas surrendering its weapons would be addressed in the second phase of the peace plan.
\n\u201cThere will be disarming,\u201d he told reporters, adding there would also be \u201cpullbacks\u201d by Israeli forces.
\nThose pullbacks appeared to be underway on Friday.
\n\u201cIsraeli forces have withdrawn from several areas in Gaza City,\u201d said Mughayyir of the civil defense agency \u2014 a rescue unit that operates under Hamas authority.
\nMughayyir said the areas Israeli toops were withdrawing from were Tel Al-Hawa and Al-Shati camps in Gaza City, both of which had seen intense Israeli air and ground operations in recent weeks, and parts of the southern city of Khan Yunis.
\nJoy and grief
\nResidents of several areas of the Gaza Strip also told AFP the Israeli military appeared to have withdrawn from positions that they held on Thursday.
\nLong columns of Palestinians, exhausted by two years of intense bombardment and what the UN warned were famine conditions, began a trek back from Khan Yunis in the south toward their shattered homes further north.
\nAreej Abu Saadaeh, 53, was displaced early in the conflict and is now heading home between smashed piles of rubble and twisted steel, under a flat blue sky and clouds of cement dust.
\n\u201cI\u2019m happy about the truce and peace, even though I\u2019m a mother of a son and a daughter who were killed and I grieve for them deeply. Yet, the truce also brings joy: returning to our homes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Israeli forces declared a ceasefire and withdrew from some positions in Gaza on Friday, as thousands of displaced Palestinians began to trek home and the families of October 7 hostages awaited news NUSEIRAT Palestinian Territories, Oct 10, 2025 : Israeli forces declared a ceasefire and withdrew from some positions in Gaza on Friday, as thousands […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507947,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-507923","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n