Israeli troops start pulling back from parts of Gaza

After months of gridlock, US President Donald Trump has finally secured a long-awaited ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas. So, how did the agreement come about? And is it all it's cracked up to be?

After staying on the sidelines for two years, Turkey is joining a multinational task force to oversee the Israel-Hamas ceasefire. Its exact future role in Gaza, however, remains unclear.

Read more here about Turkey's potential role in overseeing the ceasefire in Gaza.

The Israeli army is making preparations to receive the 48 hostages who are still held by Hamas, a spokesman has said.

Under the terms of the Trump-brokered peace plan, the hostages are set to be released within 72 hours of the ceasefire in Gaza taking effect at noon local time on Friday.

"We continue to accompany the hostages' families and remain in close contact with them," Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Effie Defrin said, adding that the preparations were being made "with the necessary sensitivity, responsibility and great anticipation."

Israel has expanded a reception center in case the 20 hostages who are still believed to be alive are all released together.

The complex has been equipped to provide personal care services, private rooms and medical care, the IDF said, according to German news agency DPA. A separate area has been set up for the relatives of the hostages.

Once they have been processed, the hostages will be flown to hospitals for further treatment.

Global humanitarian organizations say they are ready to ramp up their efforts to provide much needed aid to Palestinian families in Gaza at any time, but there is concern that there might not be enough supplies.

Read more here on the challenge of getting humanitarian aid into Gaza following the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.

The United Nations' Antonio Guterres has welcomed a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas, brokered by US President Donald Trump. DW News asked the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights, Ben Saul, for his assessment of the deal's potential to bring lasting peace to Gaza.

France, Germany and the UK have reiterated that their decision to triggered the so-called snapback mechanism that reintroduced sanctions on Iran was the right decision.

Nevertheless, the three European countries stressed they were "determined to reinitiate negotiations with Iran and the United States towards a comprehensive, durable and verifiable agreement that ensures Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon."

The trio triggered the snapback mechanism in late August, saying Iran was violating the 2015 nuclear agreement, which the US withdrew from in 2018 during US President Donald Trump's first term in office.

In September, UN sanctions on Iran were reintroduced for the first time in a decade, as a consequence of the snapback mechanism.

"We call on all UN member states to abide by the restrictions reapplied by the snapback mechanism," the three countries said in a joint statement on Friday.

Iran insists its nuclear program is for civilian purposes, but Western countries have consistently questioned the claim.

Paris, Berlin and London welcomed the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, the planned release of Israeli hostages still held in the enclave and the resumption of humanitarian aid to its civilian population.

In a joint statement on Friday, the three European countries called on the United Nations Security Council to "give its full backing to the plan and support its implementation."

"We commit to supporting substantive humanitarian aid packages through UN agencies to be delivered as soon as the ceasefire enters into effect," the statement read.

The three countries also thanked US President Donald Trump for his "leadership" on the issue of reaching the deal. They thanked mediators Egypt, Qatar and Turkey for their diplomatic efforts.

"It is now of utmost importance that all parties implement their obligations in full and without delay. We stand ready to support further talks on the next stages of the plan and to contribute to it," the statement read.

Muhammad Shehada, a Palestinian writer and analyst from Gaza and a researcher at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told DW that people in the Palestinian enclave are skeptical of the ceasefire now in effect in Gaza.

The ceasefire follows Israel's and Hamas's acceptance of a US-brokered deal. 

"You see [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu immediately, as soon as the deal was signed, coming out and saying that they would be willing to demilitarize Gaza one way or another, the hard way or the easy way, which is a hint at going back with the military option," he said, adding that this was "inviting a lot of concern."

At the same time, Shehada said people have a sense of "getting a fresh breath" after months of a humanitarian crisis. 

"Since this morning [Friday], every single person that I've spoken to, the first thought on their mind was to open the web, social media and Google the names of their neighborhoods until they have the chance to go there, and every video that [has] shown up since then shows absolutely nothing left," he said.

However, people are still determined to rebuild Gaza. 

"There is a will in Gaza to live. Most people there, they want the place to be livable again, and they want to make the best out of it," he said.

"The idea of leaving is crossing the minds of people in desperate need for medical evacuation or educational opportunities. But the vast majority of people there are determined to stay."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a "traitor" who "didn't want the war to end" until a ceasefire plan was "forced" on him, according to the father of one of the 20 remaining Israeli hostages who are still alive in Gaza.

"Netanyahu used this war for his political and personal survival," Yehuda Cohen, father of soldier Nimrod Cohen, told DW. "I see Netanyahu as a traitor to the country of Israel."

He blamed the Israeli leader of bolstering Hamas prior to the militant group's deadly attacks on October 7, 2023, accusing him of ignoring warnings about a potential attack. 

Cohen praised US President Donald Trump for putting pressure both on Netanyahu and Arab states, and he said he hoped the ceasefire would achieve much more than just releasing his captive son, turning into a "permanent peace."

He said he wanted to see both the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Hamas out of Gaza, "and Palestinian Authority personnel going in, so that we can get ... to a two-state solution."

The Palestinian Authority is based in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and runs an autonomous administration in parts of the territory.

Despite having heard little to no news of his son's wellbeing in Hamas captivity — the last update was from another Israeli hostage released in February — Cohen is still confident that Israelis and Palestinians can live together in peace. 

For that to happen, according to Cohen, more moderate voices need to replace the extremists on both sides, including Netanyahu's "heinous" government. 

"That means terrorist organizations out and settlers and extremists on our side out," he said, calling for "Palestinians and Israelis to work for a joint target: living side by side as two countries with recognized international borders."

Israeli military spokesperson Brigadier General Effie Defrin has urged residents of Gaza to stay away from areas under Israel Defense Forces (IDF) control.

"I am calling from here on the residents of Gaza to avoid entering areas under IDF control. Keep to the agreement and ensure your safety," Defrin said Friday.

The White House has sharply criticized the Nobel Committee after it awarded the 2025 Peace Prize to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado instead of US President Donald Trump.

"President Trump will continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives," spokesman Steven Cheung said Friday on X. "He has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will."

Cheung added that "the Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace."

The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced earlier Friday that Machado was recognized for her “"tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship."

A European Union mission at the Rafah border station between Egypt and Gaza is set to resume following the ceasefire agreement, enabling a pedestrian crossing to reopen on October 14, according to the Italian Defense Ministry.

The EU Border Assistance Mission at Rafah (EUBAM Rafah) is intended to provide a neutral, third-party presence at the key crossing and involves police from Italy, Spain and France, but was suspended in March.

Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said in a statement on Friday that he had authorized the resumption of Italian operations within the mission for the reopening of the crossing next week.

"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, adding that Israeli authorities were "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 crossings" daily.

"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," he added.

Israel had taken control of the Rafah Border Crossing in May 2024.

Thousands of Palestinians in Gaza were slowly making their way back towards their destroyed homes on Friday, relieved at the ceasefire but exhausted by two years of bombardment and what United Nations experts have declared to be famine conditions.

"We're going back to our areas, full of wounds and sorrow, but we thank God for this situation," 32-year-old Ameer Abu Lyadeh told the AFP news agency in the southern city of Khan Younis. "God willing, everyone will return to their areas. We're happy, even if we return to ruins with no life. At least it's our land."

Areej Abu Saadaeh, a 53-year-old mother whose son and daughter are among the more than 67,000 Palestinians killed by Israeli strikes since the deadly Hamas raids on Israel on October 7, 2023 , said:

"I'm happy about the truce and peace, even though I'm a mother of a son and a daughter who were killed and I grieve for them deeply. Yet, the truce also brings the joy of returning to our homes."

Many also wondered what the future of Gaza would look like. 

"Okay, it is over – then what? There is no home I can go back to," Balqees, a mother of five from Gaza City who has been sheltering in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, told Reuters news agency.

"They have destroyed everything. Tens of thousands of people are dead, the Gaza Strip is in ruins, and they made a ceasefire. Am I supposed to be happy? No, I am not."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that Hamas "will be disarmed" and that the Gaza Strip "will be demilitarized" in subsequent stages of the ceasefire agreement. He also said, however, that the Israeli military would remain in Gaza to maintain pressure on the Hamas militant group to disarm.

"If this is achieved the easy way, great. If not, it will be achieved the hard way," he said in a televised address on Friday in which he also hit out at critics who he says claimed it wouldn't be possible to recover all the Israeli hostages abducted on October 7, 2023.

"I believed that if we applied heavy military pressure, combined with heavy diplomatic pressure, we would absolutely be able to return all of our hostages," he said, confirming that 20 of the hostages remain alive while 28 are dead. "And that is exactly what we did."

Thanking his "great friend President Trump" for his diplomatic efforts, Netanyahu said his prime consideration throughout the war has been "the security of Israel," saying: "That meant achieving the goals of the war, including returning the hostages, removing the ballistic and nuclear threat from Iran that endangered our existence here, and breaking the Iranian axis, of which Hamas is a central component."

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have confirmed that a ceasefire has officially been effect in Gaza since midday, local time (0900 GMT) after troops withdrew to pre-agreed positions.

"Since 12:00, IDF troops began positioning themselves along the updated deployment lines in preparation for the ceasefire agreement and the return of hostages."

The updated deployment line has been referred to as the "yellow line," after its color in the plan for the future of Gaza proposed by US President Trump. 

According to the ceasefire agreement, the Palestinian group Hamas now has 72 hours to release all remaining living hostages — of which there are believed to be 20.

In return, Israel has agreed to release 250 Palestinian prisoners currently serving life sentences.

On Friday, Israeli army radio reported that, following "last-minute" changes, 11 of those would now be Hamas-affiliated prisoners rather than detainees linked to Fatah, as previously planned.