Tens of thousands of Palestinians return to their homes as ceasefire takes effect

As a latest ceasefire agreement goes into effect, Associated Press photographer Fatima Shbair looks back at the stories behind her poignant photos of Gaza and the war.

I didn’t cry that day. I had to stay strong for my mother and family. I took some days off.

This was my first day back working. I covered the morgue, showing people coming to say goodbye to loved ones.

I walked slowly. I was afraid to be there, to take just one step inside. But I forced myself.

This man in the photo, he’s lying on the same spot that my dad was. As they wept over him, I felt it all. I saw everything, I saw that day again. My vision was blurring. I was in a different world, spinning, spinning, spinning. I was going to collapse on the bodies.

But Mariam Dagga did not let me collapse. Mariam was there right next to me, taking pictures as well. We often worked together — it’s more comfortable having another woman photographer with you.

She gripped my hand. “Don’t worry. I feel you. I felt it before.”

Her brother had been killed by Israeli fire in 2018. She wanted me to feel my pain so I could be strong again, so I could keep taking photos.

That day, I found the ability to cry. I shed tears for my father.

Seventeen months after this photo was made, Mariam, a visual journalist working with the AP, was killed by an Israeli strike on a hospital.

Mariam and I were always by each other’s side. All the work I’ve done since that day she gave me strength is because of Mariam. Maybe the war will last forever, but I will stay strong. Mariam told me to keep doing the job, to keep taking photos.

▶ See more of Shbair’s photos and the stories behind them here.

A U.S. peace plan has propelled former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to the forefront of efforts to end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. While his legacy in the Middle East is controversial, especially given his role in taking the U.K. to war as part of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, there is one place he is revered as a hero: Kosovo.

As prime minister, Blair — along with then U.S. President Bill Clinton — played a pivotal role in putting together an international coalition that conducted airstrikes in 1999 to end Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic’s crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

Trump’s plan for Gaza would see Blair potentially leading a transitional international authority, the “Board of Peace,” that would be chaired by Trump himself and would govern the Palestinian territory. The proposed body would combine international expertise, technocrats, U.N. officials and Palestinian representatives, and would function under a U.N. mandate.

It aims to oversee reconstruction, security, humanitarian relief, and the groundwork for more permanent governance structures.

Criticism from Palestinians, Arab states, and international legal scholars focus on Blair’s controversial past, especially his backing of the Iraq War. They have also voiced concerns over sovereignty, citing fears that the transitional authority could sideline Palestinian agency.

▶ Read more about Blair’s impact here.

Associated Press photographer Fatima Shbair has taken some of the AP’s most poignant images of the war in Gaza. As a latest ceasefire agreement goes into effect, she looks back at the stories behind her photos.

My father was dying. I was at his bedside in Al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah. He’d been ill for a long time, and the hospitals didn’t have supplies to treat him. Doctors said he didn’t have much time left. He was unconscious, but I wanted to spend every moment with him.

The hospital was quiet. In an instant, it became chaos. The wounded from airstrikes poured in. Doctors, nurses and medics pushed by, jostling my father’s bed. Al-Najjar has a small emergency ward, with few beds, so wounded lay on the floor. A man whose jaw had been blown off – he’d lost half his face — was still walking, trying to survive.

I started taking photos. The whole time, I kept looking back at my dad.

My dad is my hero. He encouraged me in photography. Being a woman journalist in Gaza is hard. But throughout my career, his words always were in my head: “You are my daughter.”

In this moment, I struggled. I wanted to be next to my father. It was painful to see Dad this way, far from our home in Gaza City, chaos all around. But I also felt he’d be proud. He’s with me in his last moments, and I’m doing the thing he loved. I’m his daughter, and I’m strong.

I photographed a wounded child screaming in the hall near Dad’s bed. I was the only photographer there, and I felt a responsibility: If I don’t take this picture, this moment will die with no one knowing.

The boy’s family came. I didn’t know this child, but his family knew him and loved him. They don’t know me, but I have my father whom I love nearby. Each of us is living a nightmare.

The next morning, my brother called from the hospital. My father had died.

▶ See more of Shbair’s photos and the stories behind them here.

Early on Sundays, bells call the faithful to worship at the three churches in this hilltop village that the Gospel narrates Jesus visited.

Proudly Palestinian, Taybeh’s Christians — Catholics of the Roman and Greek Melkite rites, and Greek Orthodox — long most for independence and peace for this part of the Holy Land.

But that hope feels increasingly remote as they struggle with the threats of violence from Jewish settlers and the intensifying restrictions on movement imposed by Israel. Many also say they fear Islamist radicalization will grow in the area as conflicts escalate across the region.

And even Thursday’s announcement of an agreement to pause fighting in Gaza didn’t assuage those urgent concerns.

“The situation in the West Bank, in my opinion, needs another agreement — to move away and expel the settlers from our lands,” the Rev. Bashar Fawadleh, parish priest of Christ the Redeemer Catholic Church, told The Associated Press. “We are so tired of this life.”

▶ Read more about the community here.

Associated Press photographer Fatima Shbair has taken some of the AP’s most poignant images of the war in Gaza. As a latest ceasefire agreement goes into effect, she looks back at the stories behind her photos.

On Oct. 7, I was supposed to receive the keys for my new home, an apartment I was building on the top floor of my family home. That morning, as I slept, I heard something I thought was rain or voices. It was rockets, launching from every side of Gaza — Hamas had launched its attack on Israel, in which militants killed some 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage.

That night, we waited on the roof of AP’s office building for Israel’s response. It’s a tall building with several news outlets and a view across Gaza City.

Finally, around 3 or 4 a.m., it came. Continuous airstrikes, explosions hitting many places simultaneously. It went all night. We ran to every side of the building, taking pictures. It was the start of Israel’s campaign to recover hostages and eliminate Hamas, whose members and fighters live and operate among Gaza’s population.

Many of my journalist colleagues were on that roof as well. Most have since been killed.

▶ See more of Shbair’s photos and the stories behind them here.

A senior Hamas official said Friday that the group was in contact with mediators about several Palestinian leaders who Israel has refused to free under the U.S.-brokered deal, including Marwan Barghouti and Ahmad Saadat.

“The movement (Hamas) is insisting on their release and negotiations are still ongoing,” Mousa Abu Marzouk told the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera TV network.

He said Israel turned down several other proposed names. When asked if those included Abdullah Barghouti, Hassan Salama, Ibrahim Hamed and Abbas al-Sayyed, he replied, “Yes. These are the most prominent names that the occupation always rejects.”

Marwan Barghouti, 66, is widely popular and considered a potentially unifying Palestinian political figure. He’s serving five life sentences in an Israeli jail.

1 of 11 | 

Associated Press photographer Fatima Shbair takes pictures during a protest held outside Gaza City, along the border fence with Israel, against an Israeli military raid that took place in the West Bank, Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022. (AP Photo)

Read More

2 of 11 | 

FILE.- A Palestinian girl reacts as a child’s body is carried from the rubble of a building after an airstrike in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, on Oct. 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair,File)

Read More

3 of 11 | 

FILE.- A wounded Palestinian child is brought to Al-Najjar hospital in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on Feb. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair,File)

Read More

4 of 11 | 

FILE.- Palestinians carry Mohammed al-Nazzal on a stretcher after he was an injured during an airstrike in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, on Oct. 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair,File)

Read More

5 of 11 | 

FILE.- Palestinians evacuate wounded people from a building destroyed in an Israeli bombardment in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, on Oct. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair,File)

Read More

6 of 11 | 

FILE.- Members of the Al-Rabaya family break their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan outside their home, which was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on March 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair,File)

Read More

7 of 11 | 

FILE.- Palestinians mourn relatives killed in a Israel strike at a hospital morgue in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on March 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair,File)

Read More

8 of 11 | 

FILE.- Fire and smoke rise following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Oct. 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair,File)

Read More

9 of 11 | 

FILE.- Palestinians bury bodies collected from across Gaza at a mass grave in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on Jan. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair,File)

Read More

10 of 11 | 

Fatima Shbair, right, takes a selfie next to colleague and friend Mariam Dagga, in Gaza City, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023.(Ap Photo/Fatima Shbair)

Read More

11 of 11 | 

FILE.- Medics and doctors try to save the life of Maya Tarek al-Banna, her name written on her belly in marker, after she was wounded during an Israeli bombardment, at a hospital in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023.(AP Photo/Fatima Shbair,File)

Read More

After two years of war in Gaza, and as a ceasefire raised hopes for the end of the conflict, Associated Press photographer Fatima Shbair looked back at some of her most poignant images. Shbair has seen conflict and violence in the territory since she was a young girl, and when Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack triggered Israel’s campaign of retaliation, she spent several days reporting from her hometown of Gaza City.

As Israeli forces advanced, she moved with her family to Rafah, in southern Gaza. For months, she covered the war from Rafah and Khan Younis, often based at hospitals.

In April 2024, Shbair and her family were able to leave Gaza, where Israel’s offensive aimed at destroying Hamas has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and driven most of the population from their homes. Since then, Shbair has been based in Dubai for the AP.

▶ See Shbair’s photos and the stories behind them here.

A U.N. official says Israel has given the green light for United Nations authorities to begin delivering aid into Gaza starting Sunday.

The official was granted anonymity to discuss details not yet made public.

The aid will include the 170,000 metric tons that have already been positioned in the pipeline in neighboring countries like Jordan and Egypt as humanitarian officials awaited permission from Israeli forces to restart their work.

In recent months, the U.N. and its humanitarian partners have only been able to deliver 20% of the aid needed to address the dire situation in the Gaza Strip, according to U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher.

Following the announcement Wednesday of a ceasefire deal, he said Thursday that all entry points to Gaza must be opened to deliver aid at “a much, much greater scale.”

In a joint statement Friday, the leaders of France, Germany and the U.K. paid tribute to President Donald Trump’s leadership on the ceasefire plan, the planned release of hostages and the resumption of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

They also praised the diplomatic efforts of the mediators, Egypt, Qatar and Turkey.

“It is now of utmost importance that all parties implement their obligations in full and without delay,” the statement said. The countries added that the U.N. Security Council should give its full backing to the plan and support its implementation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has praised U.S. President Donald Trump for helping broker a ceasefire deal for Gaza and said that Russia stands ready to help implement it.

Putin said that if the agreement is successfully implemented, it would mark a major achievement and a “historic event.”

He noted that Russia has close ties with the Palestinian authority and could help carry out the deal if asked.

“Bearing in mind the level of trust that exists between Russia and our Arab friends, and especially Palestinian friends, of course, I believe our participation could be in demand,” Putin told reporters on a trip to Tajikistan.

“We will, of course, always be ready to participate. We have been involved in this for decades, and I think Russia has something to say and something to offer to address the issues that will arise, one way or another, during the implementation of the agreements reached,” he said.

Putin noted that he decided to postpone a Russia-Arab summit in Moscow that had been scheduled for Oct. 15 in order “not to interfere with the process that has been initiated by President Trump.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has nominated President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, has tweeted that Trump “deserves it.”

“The Nobel Committee talks about peace. President @realDonaldTrump
makes it happen. The facts speak for themselves. President #Trump deserves it,” he wrote on X on Friday.

Trump was passed over for the prestigious award on Friday despite jockeying from his fellow Republicans, various world leaders and — most vocally — himself.

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was awarded the prize.

A relative of one of the Israeli hostages believed to have died in captivity says the family hopes his body will be returned for burial as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal, even as the pain and disappointment of the past two years temper their optimism.

Stephen Brisley’s brother, Yossi, is believed to have died in an airstrike in January 2024. His sister, Lianne Sharabi, and her two teenage daughters were killed when Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

“It’s a measured sense of hope in all hostage families,’’ Brisley told The Associated Press from his home in South Wales.

“It’s a guarded optimism because it’s the kind of optimism that’s born out of heartbreaking experience. We hold our hope lightly because we’ve had our hopes dashed before,” he said. “It still feels like a long way between the announcement of the deal and actually getting Yossi’s body back to bury him.’’

The family worries that Hamas knows where the bodies of the dead hostages are but may choose not toreveal them.

In Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis, hundreds of Palestinians attempted to return to their homes, only to find wrecked buildings, rubble and destruction upon the withdrawal of the Israeli troops.

“There was nothing left. Just a few clothes, pieces of wood, and pots,” said Fatma Radwan, who was displaced from eastern Khan Younis. People were still trying to retrieve bodies from under the rubble, she added.

Many buildings were flattened, and none was undamaged, as people went back to search for their belongings. “We came to a place that is unidentifiable. An unidentifiable town. Destruction is everywhere,” said Hani Omran, who was also displaced from eastern Khan Younis.

The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees says it has no details about the role it could play in the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza as a ceasefire plan is implemented.

Juliette Touma, a spokeswoman for UNRWA, told reporters in Geneva on Friday any such aid distribution will be “difficult, if not impossible” to carry out without its 12,000 workers in Gaza -- by far the largest aid contingent in the territory.

Israel earlier this year banned UNRWA from distributing aid after allegations by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials that it is infiltrated by Hamas. UNRWA rejects that claim.

Alessandra Vellucci, spokesperson for the United Nations office in Geneva, said the world body has not been “officially contacted or asked to join any discussions as to when and how the U.N. will be part of this plan.”

Steve Witkoff, Trump’s top negotiator on the Gaza conflict, said the U.S. military confirmed that Israeli soldiers have pulled back as part of the ceasefire agreement on Friday.

“The 72 hour period to release the hostages has begun,” Witkoff wrote on social media at 7 a.m. ET.

Speaking at a rally in northern Turkey, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said a return to conflict would “come at a very high cost.”

“We are well aware of Israel’s poor track record when it comes to keeping its promises. They have broken their commitments using flimsy excuses and, unfortunately, betrayed the agreements they signed,” Erdogan told the crowd. “Returning to an environment of genocide would come at a very high cost.”

Turkey has frequently accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, an accusation Israel denies.

Erdogan stressed the importance of swiftly getting humanitarian aid to Gaza, adding that Turkish ships were docked at a port in Egypt, waiting to deliver aid.

A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect in Gaza on Friday, the military said, hours after Israel’s Cabinet approved a deal to pause the fighting and exchange the remaining hostages for Palestinian prisoners.

Tens of thousands of people who had gathered in Wadi Gaza in central Gaza started walking north after the Israeli military’s announcement at noon local time. Beforehand, Palestinians reported heavy shelling in parts of Gaza throughout Friday morning, but no significant bombardment was reported after.

The ceasefire marks a key step toward ending a ruinous two-year war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, reduced much of Gaza to rubble, destabilized the Middle East, and left dozens of hostages, living and dead, in the territory.

Still, the broader plan advanced by U.S. President Donald Trump includes many unanswered questions, such as whether and how Hamas will disarm and who will govern Gaza.

Despite those questions, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted in a televised statement Friday that the next stages would see Hamas disarm and Gaza demilitarized.

In an interview with the AP, the International Committee of the Red Cross says the expected hostage and prisoner release will be more challenging than previous ones given the scale and speed of the operation.

Christian Cardon, chief spokesman for the ICRC, said Friday that while the group is expected to play a role as hostages are released from Gaza and Palestinian prisoners from Israel, it has not been given details in terms of when, how or where the releases would occur.

“Our colleagues are preparing themselves for all possible scenarios,” said Cardon.

He said that the terms of the deal, which call for the hostages to be released from Gaza within 72 hours, was an “extremely” tight time frame.

The ICRC was involved in prisoner and hostage releases in the two previous ceasefires during the war.

The European Commission says it is ready to rush in aid and support reconstruction efforts and security in Gaza if the ceasefire holds.

Spokesperson Anouar El Anouni said that a humanitarian aid program at the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt is ready to rapidly deploy. He added that a European Union program supporting the Palestinian Authority could be brought in to help ensure security in the war-torn territory.

Palestinians who previously left Gaza will be able to return for the first time, according to an Israeli security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Palestinians from Gaza who left the besieged Gaza Strip during the war, and before the war started, will be able to return to Gaza after undergoing security checks from Israel and Egypt. The official did not provide details on when Palestinians hoping to return to Gaza can begin to do so.

The measure is part of humanitarian policies that will be implemented as part of the ceasefire, the official said. Israel will revert to the same humanitarian measures that were in place during the previous ceasefire in January 2025, which include the entry of 600 trucks per day of humanitarian aid carrying food, medical supplies, shelter, cooking gas and fuel for essential services.

Italy’s Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said Friday that Italian police will resume patrolling the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt next week, under the ceasefire plan agreed between Israel and Hamas.

“In compliance with the Trump agreement, the Rafah Crossing Point will be opened in two directions alternately, outbound to Egypt and inbound to Gaza, on Oct. 14, 2025,” Crosetto said in a statement.

The Italian minister added that Israel is working to restore the crossing’s infrastructure as quickly as possible.

Crosetto also said about 600 trucks carrying humanitarian aid will flow into Gaza from other crossings every day.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel is about to achieve one of its central goals in the two-year war — the return of the hostages.

“Hamas agreed to the deal only when it felt that the sword was on its neck — and it is still on its neck,” Netanyahu said on Friday. “Hamas agreed to the deal after Trump’s plan, which I agreed to with the President in Washington.”

“I promised the families of the hostages, and I also promised you, citizens of Israel, that we will return everyone, without exception. We promised and we are fulfilling it,” he said.

Under the ceasefire plan agreed with Hamas, all 48 hostages still in captivity are expected to be released. Israel believes around 20 of them are alive.

Netanyahu added that Israel would continue with its demilitarization of Hamas after the return of the hostages.

Under the deal, Israeli troops are withdrawing to new positions in Gaza — a process already underway — and all 48 hostages still in captivity are expected to be released. Israel believes around 20 of them are alive.

In exchange, Israel will release around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. A list of those prisoners published Friday by Israel did not include high-profile prisoner Marwan Barghouti, a popular Palestinian leader who has spend more than two decades imprisoned for deadly attacks.

Scores of Palestinians are seen walking along Wadi Gaza, preparing to return to their homes in Gaza City after the Israeli army announced that a ceasefire with Hamas has taken effect at noon of Friday.

Since the Israeli army announced its operation in Gaza City and urged people to evacuate to the south, thousands of Palestinians had to abandon their homes and flee to safer areas in central and southern Gaza.

“We want to go back,” said Fayez AlMajdoub, who was displaced from northern Gaza. “I want to go and make sure my home is still there. That’s what I want to know.”

Not everyone is confident they should immediately return.

“Up until an hour ago, we heard shelling everywhere,” said Rana Saleh, who said her home was destroyed in September. “I will wait in Khan Younis until I am confident that all is safe for me and my family.”

Mahmoud Sharkawy is waiting in the Nuseriat refugee camp in Central Gaza for more clarity.“I am planning to return to Gaza City, but not now. I will wait a few days to make sure it is safe to return.”

Earlier Friday morning, Gaza residents reported intensified shelling after Israel’s Cabinet approved the ceasefire plan.

In central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp, Mahmoud Sharkawy, one of the many people sheltering there after being displaced from Gaza City, said artillery shelling intensified in the early hours.

“The shelling has significantly increased today,” said Sharkawy, adding that low flying military aircraft had been flying over central Gaza.

In northern Gaza, two Gaza City residents told The Associated Press that bombing went on in the early hours, mostly artillery shelling.

The managing director of Shifa hospital, Rami Mhanna, said the shelling in southern and northern Gaza City had not stopped following the Israeli Cabinet’s approval of the ceasefire plan.

The spokesman, Avichay Adraee, said that Palestinians can now return to northern Gaza by two roads, though he warned against approaching areas in northern Gaza including Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahiya, Al-Shujaiyya, and areas where troops are still present.

Elsewhere in southern Gaza, Adraee warned Palestinians against approaching the Rafah crossing the philadelphi corridor and all areas where troops are present in Khan Younis.

He spoke Friday as the Israeli military said the ceasefire with Hamas has taken effect.