The Israeli military said Friday a cease-fire in Gaza went into effect at noon local time, setting the stage for the release of the remaining hostages and an influx of humanitarian aid into the territory.
Israeli troops on Friday morning withdrew from parts of the Gaza Strip as part of the cease-fire deal , Israeli and Arab officials said. Israel’s government approved the agreement overnight local time, which calls on Israeli forces to pull back to a line marked in yellow on a map. The army reached that yellow line by noon, completing the initial withdrawal phase, Steve Witkoff , President Trump ’s special envoy to the Middle East, said in a social-media post.
The remains of a munition lie among the rubble, following Israeli forces’ withdrawal from the area, after Israel and Hamas agreed on the Gaza ceasefire, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, October 10, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
Hamas said it would begin deploying internal security forces in the areas after Israeli forces had withdrawn.
The Israeli troop withdrawal sets up the cease-fire and starts a 72-hour window for the release of the hostages , mediators say.
Trump has indicated he would be visiting Israel in the coming days. Israel said it was deploying thousands of police officers to prepare for a visit on Monday.
Officials involved in the negotiations said final details are still being smoothed out between Israel and Hamas in Egypt, including the precise demarcation of the withdrawal lines, the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and control of the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza.
Israeli hospitals and the military are preparing to receive the living hostages. Security officials have met in recent days with the International Committee of the Red Cross, which facilitated the previous hostage and prisoner exchanges, to prepare for the exchange. Aid groups are also preparing for Israel to open up border crossings so they can begin flooding Gaza with desperately needed food and medicine. Some aid trucks have been entering the enclave in recent months, though in much lower numbers than what is needed .
Palestinians pass by the rubble following Israeli forces’ withdrawal from the area, after Israel and Hamas agreed on the Gaza ceasefire, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, October 10, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
Though celebrations erupted in both Gaza and Tel Aviv, mediators and many civilians on both sides are holding their breath to see if the cease-fire will hold. Smoke billowing in the air could be seen on live feeds from Gaza on Friday morning. In the afternoon, droves of Palestinians used a major coastal road to head north on foot toward Gaza City, from where Israel ordered hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to leave after it launched a large, renewed military offensive in the area in recent months.
A girl holds a Palestinian flag, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas agreed on the first phase of a Gaza ceasefire, in the central Gaza Strip October 9, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Palestinian children celebrate, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas agreed on the first phase of a Gaza ceasefire, at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, October 9, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Palestinians in Gaza are worried that a breakdown in the deal will lead to a resumption of strikes, as has happened twice before. And the families of Israeli hostages anxiously await to see their captive relatives return after a monthslong struggle in the streets and lobbying world leaders to their cause.
Some Gazans posted online about explosions being heard on Friday morning. An Israeli official said that troops are blowing up some of their own equipment and infrastructure as they pull out. The Israeli military struck northern Gaza on Thursday night just before the deal passed the government’s vote, saying militants had posed a danger to troops.
The deal, which Trump announced from the White House on Wednesday, promises to close a wound opened by the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel that killed around 1,200 people and took about 250 hostage. About 20 remaining hostages are believed to be alive in Gaza, in addition to the bodies of around 28 others.
The deal will bring the first significant pause in fighting since March, giving momentum to the effort to end a two-year war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and left the enclave in ruins.
Rimah Abu Hasira, a 36-year-old mother of two in Gaza City, said she wishes her loved ones killed in the war could have made it to see a cease-fire finally happen. In a sign of the uncertainty over the deal holding, she added that “everyone fears the cease-fire could collapse at any moment.”
Al Jazeera reporter Nour Abu Rokba works, as Palestinian emergency personnel celebrate, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas agreed on the first phase of a Gaza ceasefire, in Gaza City, October 9, 2025. REUTERS/Ebrahim Hajjaj
The U.S. administration hopes the deal will also be the first step toward a longer-term settlement that will involve talks over the disarmament of Hamas and the formation of an interim government to oversee Gaza.
Israeli Jewish worshippers embrace one another as they take part in the morning prayer of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, after Israel’s government ratified a ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza, at “Hostages Square”, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 10, 2025. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a brief speech Friday afternoon that in the following stages, Hamas will be disarmed either by negotiations or by force. “Hamas only agreed to the deal when the sword was around its neck,” he said.
U.S. Central Command will be leading an international stabilization force and set up a civil-military coordination center that could include Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, a senior U.S. official said.
U.S. troops began to arrive in Israel on Thursday, the first of about 200 being sent to support the cease-fire in Gaza as part of an international team, according to U.S. officials.
The troops will help monitor the implementation of the cease-fire and eventual transition to a civilian government, according to a U.S. official. They will also help facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Write to Omar Abdel-Baqui at omar.abdel-baqui@wsj.com , Summer Said at summer.said@wsj.com and Anat Peled at anat.peled@wsj.com
