Before the ceasefire, displaced Gazans prepared to return home.
“I will go to kiss my land,” said Nasr al-Gharabili, who fled to a camp in the south, away from Gaza City. “If I die on my land, it will be better than living here as a displaced person.”
Jerusalem residents said the deal was a long time coming.
“Hopefully the maximum number of hostages will be returned,” said Biri Yamani, a university student. “Hopefully maybe this is the beginning of the end of the suffering for both sides,” he said, adding, “The war needed to end a long time ago.”
Hamas’s 2023 offensive killed 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Of the 251 taken hostage, 94 are still in Gaza, 34 of whom have been killed according to the Israeli military.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has destroyed much of Gaza, killing 46,899 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which the United Nations considers reliable.