‘They’re all tired of the fighting’: Trump optimistic as Gaza ceasefire takes effect

Israeli troops have withdrawn from parts of Gaza and taken up positions behind the lines agreed in a ceasefire with Hamas, allowing thousands of Palestinians to return to areas devastated by two years of war.

The withdrawal clears the way for an urgent effort to supply food and medical supplies to the territory, with the United Nations pledging “truckloads every day” in the hope of feeding more than 2 million people.

Confirming the first phase of the Israeli pullback, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said the agreed 72-hour period for Hamas to release all Israeli hostages had begun.

Speaking in Washington on Friday, US President Donald Trump expressed optimism that the ceasefire would last. “I think it will hold. They’re all tired of the fighting,” he told reporters.

The president said he would soon join “a lot of leaders from all over the world” in Cairo for a ceremony marking the agreement, and said he planned to address the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, as well.

The Israel Defence Forces said the withdrawal began at noon on Friday in Gaza (8pm AEDT) – a key development that showed it was acting in accordance with the terms of the peace agreement.

Witkoff, a key negotiator in the ceasefire agreement, said US Central Command, the military headquarters with responsibility for the Middle East, had confirmed the Israeli move.

The development came shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the IDF would hold “controlling positions” in Gaza at the lines agreed in the ceasefire to ensure Hamas honoured the terms.

“This way we have a hold on Hamas, from all directions toward the next stages of the plan, in which Hamas will be disarmed and Gaza will be demilitarised,” Netanyahu said in a televised address.

“If this is achieved the easy way, then that will be good, and if not, then it will be achieved the hard way.”

Under the ceasefire agreement, Hamas will release the hostages, living and dead, within 72 hours of the Israeli withdrawal. The deadline will take effect at noon on Monday (8pm AEDT).

US officials said the US would deploy 200 troops as part of a joint task force to ensure stability, but they said no Americans would enter Gaza.

The officials, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, said the 200 would be the core of a task force that would include representatives from Egypt’s military, Qatar, Turkey and probably the United Arab Emirates.

Aid scale-up to begin

Meanwhile, the UN has been given the green light by Israel to scale up aid deliveries into Gaza from Sunday, a UN official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet made public.

UN emergency relief co-ordinator Tom Fletcher said aid groups aim to restore Gaza’s health system and bring food to more than 2 million people.

“We’re targeting 1.4 million people with water and sanitation services,” he said in a briefing, adding that increased deliveries of emergency shelter materials would help families prepare for the winter.

Fletcher said this would include distributing thousands of tents every week and the hope of getting 700,000 children back into education.

But there are concerns that it will take too long to open border checkpoints to more aid, while families are returning to areas destroyed by war and without housing, water or food.

“The needs in Gaza are immense and wide-ranging,” said the International Committee of the Red Cross.

“It will take a long time to get to a place where people even have the basic necessities. Only the rapid, unimpeded, and sustained flow of aid can begin to address the full scope of needs on the ground.”

In Gaza, a steady stream of people, the vast majority on foot, crammed onto a coastal road heading north to see what might remain of their homes, in a repeat of emotional scenes from an earlier ceasefire in January. Others headed to different areas in southern Gaza.

The destruction they find this time will be even greater, after Israel waged a new offensive in Gaza City, in the north, in recent weeks, with high-rise buildings and homes blown up in what it said was an attempt to destroy Hamas’ remaining military infrastructure.

“There wasn’t much joy, but the ceasefire somewhat eased the pain of death and bloodshed, and the pain of our loved ones and brothers who suffered in this war,” said Jamal Mesbah, who was displaced from the north and plans to return.

In the southern city of Khan Younis, hundreds of returning Palestinians found wrecked buildings, rubble and destruction after Israeli troops withdrew.

“There was nothing left. Just a few clothes, pieces of wood and pots,” said Fatma Radwan, who was displaced from Khan Younis. People were still trying to retrieve bodies from under the rubble, she added.

Palestinians reported heavy shelling early on Friday in Gaza, the morning after Netanyahu and cabinet ministers approved the peace plan brokered by Trump and his envoys.

In a sign that fighting continued until the ceasefire deadline began, the IDF said a Hamas sniper killed a reservist, Michael Mordechai Nachmani, 26, in an attack in Gaza City on Thursday afternoon – after the ceasefire terms were agreed but before they came into effect.

Also on Thursday, the IDF launched a strike against an area in northern Gaza where it said Hamas posed an immediate threat to Israeli troops.

While the ceasefire terms require Israel to withdraw its forces from much of Gaza, unofficial statements suggest it will retain control over as much as 50 per cent of the territory.

With Reuters, AP

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.