(MENAFN- Live Mint) Hours after Israel withdrew its troops from Gaza City in the opening stage of a US-brokered ceasefire, tens of thousands of Palestinians trudged back to sift through bombed out buildings overseen by Hamas security operatives.

The Hamas interior ministry said in a statement on Friday that its police force would deploy across the territory. By Saturday, masked men wearing caps labeled“Internal Security” and armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles were inspecting car trunks and reasserting their authority, according to witnesses and images posted on social media and filmed by Al Jazeera.

It was an early sign that Israel's goal of removing the Islamist group from power - and US President Donald Trump's aim of a lasting peace - won't be simple. Nor will the task of rebuilding.

“Everybody I know has lost their house,” said Mahmoud Faraj, who left Gaza City with his family last month when Israeli troops took over. Speaking by phone, he said,“My family is staying in the south of Gaza in their displacement site because there is no home to return to.”

The scale of destruction in Gaza City may be slightly less than in the southern part of the coastal enclave but is still massive. Most high-rise buildings have been leveled - Israel says they contained Hamas intelligence infrastructure - and some streets are unrecognizable.

The truce, aimed at ending the brutal two-year war between Israel and Hamas, leaves Israeli troops still in the strip. Hamas has agreed to free 20 living hostages - and hand over the remains of 28 others - by Monday, when Trump arrives in Jerusalem to address the Parliament before heading to Egypt for a signing ceremony.

Israel is then obliged to free nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, among them 250 serving life sentences. Who will be among the 250 is a matter of intense concern among both Israel and Hamas.

Among the controversial inmates who might be freed are senior Hamas operatives who have killed Israelis.

Hamas, considered a terrorist group by the US and European Union, launched the war two years ago. While firing 5,000 missiles at Israeli towns, thousands of its operatives crossed into Israel and killed 1,200 people, abducting another 250.

Israel's counter-offensive has killed at least 67,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, and destroyed much of the territory. A United Nations-backed body declared famine in parts of the north because Israel blocked aid, and experts have charged Israel both with genocide and a policy of forced starvation.

Israel rejects both allegations and says its assault has been so destructive because Hamas, funded by Iran, hid in hundreds of miles of underground tunnels and among civilians, and stole aid.

The 20-point peace plan publicized by Trump and agreed by Israel requires Hamas to give up power and disarm while an interim international administration runs Gaza. Some 200 US troops began arriving in Israel on Saturday to help oversee the deal.

But a statement issued Friday night by Hamas and other militant groups challenges the plan. It calls for national unity among the factions and adds:“We firmly reject any foreign guardianship and affirm that determining the form of governance in the Gaza Strip and the principles guiding its institutions is an internal Palestinian matter, to be decided jointly by the national components of our people.”

Experts have warned that any peace deal drawn up without Palestinian participation and that relies largely on outside governance will be difficult to maintain. Palestinian factions are due to begin meeting in Egypt to come up with their plan for the future of Gaza.

Uncertainty and Relief

Uncertainty among the strip's 2.2 million inhabitants is ubiquitous - as is the fear for those still unaccounted for.

Families and medical crews have started the grim mission of searching for bodies trapped under rubble or in areas that had been inaccessible due to the presence of Israeli ground forces or heavy fighting.

More than 130 bodies were collected on the first day of the ceasefire, 63 of them in Gaza City, according to Gaza medical and rescue officials.

But there's also been joy and relief. Videos of relieved, displaced Gazans riding on trucks provided by a Palestinian businessman to return from the south to their homes in Gaza City are circulating on social media. After two years of war, people are even dancing in the streets across the enclave at the prospect of an end to war.

Israelis are equally emotional. Young soldiers being released from service in Gaza are posting videos of themselves exiting to the sound of traditional songs and even poetry. Others show brigades praying to express their gratitude - juxtaposed with Palestinians in Gaza doing the same on the other side of the border. Bloomberg wasn't able to independently verify the videos.

Meanwhile, international aid groups say they're ready to start flooding Gaza with food, medicine and rebuilding materials. The process of reconstruction, once it gets underway, will take years.

With assistance from Fadwa Hodali.

©2025 Bloomberg L.P.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.

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