Gaza ceasefire begins

Displaced Palestinians wave national flags and children cheer in Nuseirat in celebration as they return to Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Sunday. Pic/AFP

A long-awaited cease-fire in Gaza has begun after a nearly three-hour delay. The truce was postponed after Hamas did not name the three hostages it planned to release later on Sunday.

Israel vowed to keep fighting until it received the names, which were posted on social media by Hamas' armed wing around two hours later. That appeared to pave the way for the start of the ceasefire, which Israel said would begin at 11.15 am local time.

Airstrike kills 8 in Gaza

Deir Al-BalahAn Israeli airstrike killed at least eight people in the Gaza Strip after the ceasefire was delayed. Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis confirmed the casualties from Sunday's strike, which it said had occurred around two hours after the truce was supposed to take effect.

Palestinians celebrate

Dozens of people took to the streets in Gaza's southern city of Khan Younis to celebrate the ceasefire, according to an Associated Press reporter.

Four masked and armed Hamas fighters arrived in two vehicles as the celebrations were underway, with people welcoming them and chanting slogans in support of the militant group.

The Hamas-run police began deploying in public after mostly lying low for months due to Israeli airstrikes. Gaza City residents said they had seen them operating in parts of the city, and the AP reporter in Khan Younis saw a small number out on the streets.

Palestinian residents began returning to their homes in Gaza City early Sunday, even as tank shelling continued to the east, closer to the Israeli border, overnight. Families could be seen making their way back on foot, with their belongings loaded on donkey carts.

Delay underscores fragility of deal

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip on Sunday. Pic/PTI

The planned ceasefire, agreed after a year of intensive mediation by the United States, Qatar and Egypt, is the first step in a long and fragile process aimed at winding down the 15-month war.

Netanyahu said he had instructed the military that the ceasefire "will not begin until Israel has in its possession the list of hostages to be freed, which Hamas committed to provide". He had issued a similar warning the night before.

The 42-day first phase of the ceasefire should see a total of 33 hostages returned from Gaza and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees released. Israeli forces should pull back into a buffer zone inside Gaza, and many displaced Palestinians should be able to return home. The devastated territory should also see a surge in humanitarian aid.

This is just the second ceasefire in the war, longer and more consequential than the weeklong pause over a year ago, with the potential to end the fighting for good.
Negotiations on the far more difficult second phase of this ceasefire should begin in just over two weeks. Major questions remain, including whether the war will resume after the six-week first phase and how the rest of the nearly 100 hostages in Gaza will be freed.

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