200,000 Palestinians return to North Gaza as ceasefire takes hold

The live blog has now ended and will be back tomorrow at 9AM BST. You can read more of The New Arab's coverage of Israel's war on Gaza here.

US President Donald Trump said he believed the Israeli ceasefire that began in Gaza on Friday would hold as Israel and Hamas are "tired" of fighting.

"It'll hold. I think it'll hold. They're all tired of the fighting," Trump told reporters, confirming his plans to travel to Israel and mediator Egypt this weekend.

US President Donald Trump said on Friday the hostages held by Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza are due to "come back" on Monday.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, he said there were approximately 28 bodies to be recovered. He said he thought he would be traveling to Cairo and he would later speak to the Israeli Knesset, before returning to the US on Tuesday. 

Israel is holding the bodies of 735 Palestinians, according to the National Campaign for the Retrieval of Palestinian and Arab War Victims and the Disclosure of the Fate of the Missing. 

The entry of Humanitarian aid into Gaza is set to begin on Saturday, according to Haaretz, citing a Hamas official, with the publication adding that the Rafah Crossing will be open to civilians in both directions in the middle of next week.

A joint statement by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine has said that the future governance of Gaza is "an internal Palestinian matter".

"We are working in cooperation with generous Egyptian efforts to convene an urgent comprehensive national meeting for the next step after the ceasefire," the groups said, adding that "this will unify the Palestinian position, forumlate a comprehensive national strategy, and rebuild our national institutions on the foundations of partnership, credibility, and transparency."

An AFP photographer was injured in an attack by Israeli settlers on Friday while covering the olive harvest in a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank.

"In my 30-year career, this is the first time I have faced violence of this kind," said Jaafar Ashtiyeh, a Palestinian photographer based in the city of Nablus.

"If I hadn't managed to escape, they would have killed me," he added.

Ashtiyeh said he had been covering the olive harvest in the village of Beita, particularly looking at the work of Israeli and foreign peace activists who had come to support residents in the face of repeated settler attacks during the harvest season.

Shortly after midday (0900 GMT), two groups of Israeli settlers armed with sticks and stones - numbering around 70 people in total - attacked the olive pickers and journalists at the scene.

Hit by several stones in the back, arm and hand, Ashtiyeh was discharged from hospital in the afternoon and is suffering from bruising.

His car, along with a handful of others parked at a safe distance from the field, was stoned and then set on fire by the assailants.

Ashtiyeh said Israeli soldiers who were present before the attack did nothing to stop the attackers from advancing, but instead fired tear gas and rubber bullets at the olive pickers and activists to disperse them.

The Foreign Press Association has called on Israel to allow the entry of foreign journalists into Gaza following the beginning of a ceasefire in the enclave. 

The FPA said in a statement that "with the halt in fighting, we renew our urgent call for Israel to open the borders immediately and allow international media free and independent access to the Gaza Strip."

Gaza's civil defence agency said that approximately 200,000 people have returned to the north of the territory since a ceasefire took effect on Friday.

"Approximately 200,000 people returned to northern Gaza today," said Mahmud Bassal, a spokesman for the agency.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz spoke with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on the phone on Friday, praising Egypt's role in helping seek an end to the Gaza conflict and promising further German support.

"The Chancellor stressed that Germany would continue to engage with Egypt for the release of hostages, a stable ceasefire, humanitarian aid, and the reconstruction of Gaza," read a German government statement.

US President Donald Trump plans to convene world leaders for a summit on Gaza during his visit to Egypt next week, Axios reported on Friday, citing four sources with knowledge of the matter.

Among those expected to participate are representatives from Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Indonesia, Axios said, citing the sources.

The United Nations has received approval from Israel to begin large-scale aid deliveries to Gaza starting Sunday, according to The Associated Press.

A UN official, speaking anonymously as the details have not yet been made public, said the shipments will include 170,000 metric tons of supplies already staged in neighbouring countries such as Jordan and Egypt. Humanitarian teams had been waiting for Israel’s authorisation to resume operations.

UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said that, in recent months, the UN and its partners have only managed to deliver around 20 percent of Gaza’s required aid.

The U.N. children's charity UNICEF called on Friday for all crossings for food aid into war-shattered Gaza to be opened, saying children in the territory were especially vulnerable because they have gone without proper food for long periods.

"The situation is critical. We risk seeing a massive spike in child death, not only neonatal, but also infants, given their immune systems are more compromised than ever before," said UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires.

Children's immunity is low because "they haven't been eating properly and recently at all for way too long", he said.

An organisation representing international media in Israel and the Palestinian territories on Friday urged Israel to grant journalists immediate, independent access to Gaza following the declaration of a ceasefire.

Since the Gaza war broke out in October 2023, Israeli authorities have prevented foreign journalists from entering the devastated territory, taking only a handful of reporters inside along with its troops.

The Foreign Press Association, which represents hundreds of foreign journalists, said it "welcomes the agreement between the warring parties on a ceasefire in Gaza".

"With the halt in fighting, we renew our urgent call for Israel to open the borders immediately and allow international media free and independent access to the Gaza Strip," it added.

The FPA has on multiple occasions asked for access to Gaza over the past two years.

"These demands have been repeatedly ignored, while our Palestinian colleagues have risked their lives to provide tireless and brave reporting from Gaza," the association said.

On October 23, the country's top court is due to hear the FPA's petition demanding access, "but there is no reason to wait that long," it said.

"Enough with the excuses and delay tactics. The restrictions on press freedom must come to an end," it added.

The leaders of Britain, France and Germany on Friday urged the United Nations Security Council to give its "full backing" to the United States-backed peace plan for Gaza.

"We agree that the UN Security Council should give its full backing to the plan and support its implementation," the so-called E3 group of nations said in a statement, as a ceasefire kicked in and Israel started pulling back troops in Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has shared a White House post criticising the Nobel Committee for not awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to US President Donald Trump.

On X, Netanyahu reposted a statement from White House Communications Director Steven Cheung, who claimed the committee “places politics over peace.”

Netanyahu added, “The facts speak for themselves. President Trump deserves it. Peace through strength.”

Israeli forces have completed the first phase of their withdrawal from Gaza, commencing the 72-hour period for the hostages' release, a top White House envoy said Friday, citing the Pentagon.

The US military's Central Command "has confirmed that the Israeli Defense Forces [Israeli military] completed the first phase withdrawal to the yellow line at 12PM local time," President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff said on X.

"The 72 hour period to release the hostages has begun."

CENTCOM has confirmed that the Israeli Defense Forces completed the first phase withdrawal to the yellow line at 12PM local time. The 72 hour period to release the hostages has begun.

— Special Envoy Steve Witkoff (@SEPeaceMissions) October 10, 2025

Donald Trump is expected to arrive in Israel on Monday, according to Israeli police.

The US president had earlier indicated that he would travel to Israel to attend celebrations marking the release of hostages.

Israeli media reported that Trump is due to land at Ben Gurion Airport near Jerusalem at around 9 am on Monday, coinciding with Hamas’s deadline for the hostages’ return.

Police confirmed they are preparing for his visit, during which Trump is expected to address the Knesset following a formal invitation from the parliament’s speaker.

It remains unclear whether he will visit Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, where families of captives have requested to meet him and suggested he may deliver public remarks.

At least 17 Palestinians have been killed and 71 others injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza over the past 24 hours, according to the territory’s Health Ministry.

Since 7 October 2023, Israel’s war on Gaza has left 67,211 people dead and 169,961 wounded, the ministry added.

Israel’s Justice Ministry has released a list of 250 Palestinian prisoners set to be freed in exchange for Israeli captives still held in Gaza, as part of a ceasefire deal with Hamas.

The list excludes several prominent Palestinian figures long seen as symbols of resistance, including  Marwan Barghouti , Ahmad Saadat, Hassan Salameh, and Abbas al-Sayyed, whose release Hamas has demanded.

However, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office said that no official agreement has yet been finalised.

"If the final agreement is reached, the official lists will be published on the Prisoners’ Media Office platforms," the office stated on Telegram.

President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia supports U.S. President Donald Trump's initiative to end the war in Gaza.

Putin said there may be demand for Russia to take part in the peace process, given that it has relations of trust with Arab countries and especially with the Palestinians.

An EU mission at the Rafah border point between Gaza and Egypt will resume following the ceasefire, with the pedestrian crossing due to reopen on October 14, Italy said Friday.

The EUBAM monitoring mission is intended to provide a neutral, third-party presence at the key crossing and involves police from Italy, Spain and France. It was deployed in January but suspended in March.

In a statement, Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said he had authorised the resumption of Italian operations within the EU mission for the reopening of the crossing under the same conditions as in January.

It follows the ceasefire agreed between Israel and Hamas under a truce and hostage-release deal proposed by US President Donald Trump.

"On October 14, 2025, in compliance with the Trump agreement, in coordination with the European Union and the parties, the Rafah crossing will be opened alternately in two directions, exiting towards Egypt and entering towards Gaza," Crosetto said.

He said Israel was "working to restore the logistical functionality of the crossing's infrastructure as quickly as possible."

Crosetto also said that "approximately 600 trucks carrying humanitarian aid will flow into Gaza from other (non-Rafah) crossings every day".

In January, the EU said the main objective of the mission was to coordinate and facilitate the daily transit of up to 300 wounded and sick people.

Crosetto said Friday: "The passage of personnel will not be limited to serious medical cases, but will be extended to anyone who wishes (subject to the mutual approval of Israel and Egypt)."

The EU set up the civilian mission in 2005 to help monitor the Rafah crossing, but it was suspended two years later after the Palestinian group Hamas took control of Gaza.

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,” Sharkawy told news agency The Associated Press, 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 U.N. children's agency has evacuated two of 18 newborns from a North Gaza hospital to be reunited with their parents further south, it said on Friday.

Its attempt to move two of the babies was suspended on Thursday amid an ongoing Israeli military assault on the city, but the children have since been reunited with their parents.

"We had 18 babies in incubators at the beginning of week. Two got moved yesterday," UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires told a Geneva press briefing, saying the others are waiting in incubators for Israeli security clearance.

"I hope this is just an example of what will come after the ceasefire is fully implemented," he said.

Israeli troops began pulling back from some parts of Gaza on Friday under the terms of a ceasefire deal with Hamas. 

Thousands of Gazans began heading north in the territory after the Israeli military announced that a ceasefire had come into effect on Friday, according to AFP news agency.

News cameras captured queues of men, women and children walking along the coastal road after the start of the truce at 0900 GMT.

The International Committee of the Red Cross Friday said all releases of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners called for in the Gaza ceasefire agreement should be carried out "safely and with dignity".

The Israeli government said Friday it had "approved the framework" of a hostage release deal with Hamas, as both sides edged closer to ending more than two years of hostilities in Gaza.

ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric hailed the plan, which calls for the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the 47 hostages remaining in Gaza, including 25 the Israeli military says are dead.

"The ceasefire agreement reached between Israel and Hamas must mark a turning point in two years of unimaginable horror," she said in a statement, stressing that it "offers a vital chance to save lives and ease suffering".

The ICRC chief insisted that "the coming days are critical".

"I urge the parties to hold to their commitments. Release operations must be carried out safely and with dignity," she said.

ICRC teams in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank would "support its implementation by helping to return hostages and detainees to their families", she said, adding that they were "also ready to help return human remains so families can mourn their loved ones with dignity".

Israeli military says ceasefire agreement in Gaza started at noon local time.

The Israeli military has begun withdrawing its forces to positions behind the line outlined in the Gaza agreement, prompting displaced families from the enclave’s south to move north, according to various outlets.

Earlier, Israel’s government approved "phase one" of a ceasefire deal that includes the exchange of captives and a partial withdrawal from Gaza.

Turkey's military will take part in any mission to maintain peace in Gaza after a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, a defence ministry source said on Friday.

Turkey, which has been closely involved in the negotiations, had sent a team to the talks in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh.

"Our Turkish Armed Forces, with their experience in establishing and maintaining peace, are ready for any task entrusted to them," the source said in response to a question if the army would join a task force in Gaza.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday said said Turkey would participate in a "task force" to oversee the implementation of the ceasefire deal, without elaborating further.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said late Thursday that "a team consisting of the United States, Egypt, Turkey, and Qatar will play a facilitating role in following up on these agreed-upon points, and will discuss the issues with both sides."

Fidan said these countries were also mediators and would oversee the implementation of the relevant articles of the agreement.

No final agreement has been made regarding the names of Palestinian prisoners set to be released by Israel, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office (ASRA) has said.

The office stated that the circulating lists of prisoners reportedly included in the exchange deal are inaccurate and “promoted by the [Israeli] occupation with the aim of pressuring and disrupting the negotiations.”

It added, “If an agreement is reached, the official lists will be announced and published on the Prisoners’ Media Office platforms.”

Seven bodies have been recovered from different locations across Gaza City since this morning, according to Al Jazeera English, which cited sources at al-Ahli Hospital.

Gaza's civil defence agency said Friday that Israeli forces have begun pulling back from parts of the territory, particularly in Gaza City and Khan Yunis.

"Israeli forces have withdrawn from several areas in Gaza City," Mohammed al-Mughayyir, a senior official with the agency, told AFP news agency.

He added that Israeli military vehicles had also pulled out from sections of the southern city of Khan Yunis.

A US military team of 200 people will be deployed in the Middle East to "oversee" the Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas after a peace deal brokered by President Donald Trump, senior US officials said Thursday.

Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of the US military's Central Command, "will initially have 200 people on the ground. His role will be to oversee, observe, make sure there are no violations," one senior official told reporters.

Egyptian, Qatari, Turkish and probably Emirati military officials would be embedded in the team, he said. A second official said that "no US troops are intended to go into Gaza."

"The notion is to make it collegial, if you will. And the Israelis will obviously be in constant touch with them," the first official said.

"Putting Admiral Cooper in the room gave a lot of confidence and security to the Arab countries," they added.

"And therefore it was passed on to Hamas that we were taking a very strong role, or the president was taking a very strong position in standing behind his guarantees and his commitments here."

The second official said the US personnel were intended "to help create the joint control center and then integrate all the other security forces that will be going in there to deconflict with IDF (Israeli forces)."

 Indonesia has denied visas to Israeli gymnasts, costing them a spot in a world championship in Jakarta this month, a sports official in the Southeast Asian nation said on Friday, amid outcry over Israel's military offensive in Gaza.

The Israeli team was set to participate in the World Artistic Gymnastics championship from October 19 to 25 in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority country, which has no formal diplomatic ties with Israel.

"They are confirmed to not be attending," Ita Juliati, the chief of the Indonesian gymnastics federation, told reporters.

The Israel Gymnastics Federation did not immediately respond to the latest developments.

Indonesia decided not to issue visas to the Israeli athletes, senior legal affairs minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra said, citing objections from groups such as a council of Islamic clerics and the government in Jakarta, the capital.

The decision is in line with Indonesia's policy of having no ties with Israel until it recognises "the independence and full sovereignty of the state of Palestine", Yusril added in a statement on Friday.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Friday that Germany would provide 29 million euros ($34 million) in immediate humanitarian aid for Gaza, following Israel's ratification of a ceasefire with Palestinian militant group Hamas.

"We are providing 29 million euros for humanitarian aid. Together with Egypt, we will invite to a reconstruction conference for Gaza," Merz said on X, adding Germany would assume responsibility in the peace process proposed by US President Donald Trump.

Israel said Thursday all parties have signed the first phase of a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, adding that Hamas freeing the captives would "bring the end to this war".

The Israeli government said the ceasefire was to take hold within 24 hours of meetings on Thursday to approve the deal, under which the military should withdraw from Gaza.

Early on Friday, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the government had "approved the framework for the release of all the hostages -- both the living and the deceased".

Netanyahu had faced pushback from his far-right allies, with National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir saying he would vote against the agreement, calling the plan to release thousands of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the 47 hostages remaining in Gaza "an unbearable heavy price".

The agreement in Egypt follows a 20-point peace plan for Gaza announced last month by US President Donald Trump, after more than two years of war sparked by Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel.