A ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas took effect in the Gaza Strip on Sunday at 11:15 am local time, after more than 470 days of war that have devastated the tiny territory and left its two million inhabitants in dire need of the basics to survive. According to the United Nations, more than 630 trucks of humanitarian goods entered Gaza on the first day of the truce, with at least 300 of them going to the northern Gaza Strip, which has been cut off from aid for months.
The agreement to end the fighting between Israel and Hamas was reached after more than a year of negotiations mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States. The warring parties agreed to it on Wednesday, and it was approved by the Israeli cabinet early Saturday.
Israeli attacks on Gaza have continued since the ceasefire was announced, including on Sunday morning, reportedly killing dozens of civilians. The ceasefire, which could lead to an end to the war, was reported to be holding on Monday.
Under the deal, Hamas is expected to release the hostages it has held since launching an attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. In return, Israeli authorities will release Palestinian prisoners and carry out a phased troop withdrawal from Gaza.
Other aspects of the agreed deal include the return of Palestinians forcibly displaced by Israeli forces to their homes throughout the Gaza Strip. The deal includes a full and complete ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
The agreement has three phases, each lasting six weeks. The terms of phases two and three are still being negotiated as phase one is implemented, but under the first phase, the cessation of hostilities is expected to continue if six weeks elapse before the next phase is finalized.
Phase one includes the withdrawal of Israeli forces from densely populated areas, the release of some Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons and 33 hostages held by Hamas, as well as a surge in humanitarian aid for Gaza.
Humanitarian aid into Gaza has been obstructed by Israeli officials for more than a year, in gross violation of international humanitarian law and in apparent use as a method of warfare. Phase one of the agreement now allows for the entry of 600 trucks per day into Gaza, including 50 trucks of fuel.
On Sunday, UN Secretary-General AntΓ³nio Guterres welcomed the start of the ceasefire as UN humanitarian convoys brought in desperately needed food aid to begin pulling the war-ravaged territory back from starvation.
βWe stand ready to support this implementation and scale up the delivery of sustained humanitarian relief to the countless Palestinians who continue to suffer,β the UN chief said in a social media post.
βIt is imperative that this ceasefire removes the significant security and political obstacles to delivering aid.β
The Gaza Strip has been devastated, leaving its two million residents in critical need of food and other essentials for survival. The ceasefire has been hailed by UN officials as a crucial step towards peace and alleviating the immense suffering of the Palestinian civilian population.
In a separate statement, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher highlighted the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza following the ceasefire.
βAs the ceasefire entered into force today, humanitarian aid moved into Gaza as part of a prepared surge to increase our support to survivors. More than 630 trucks with humanitarian aid entered Gaza today, with at least 300 of them going to the north.β
Fletcher said there was no time to lose after 15 months of relentless war and staggering humanitarian needs, while acknowledging the logistical challenges facing those delivering this aid.
βI urgently call on countries with influence over the parties to ensure that this lifesaving aid reaches those who need it most,β he said.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which Fletcher heads, the UN and its humanitarian partners have mobilized supplies and resources to scale up the delivery of aid across the Gaza Strip in the lead up to the ceasefire.
80,000 metric tons of food aid - enough to feed one million people for three months - is on standby for entry into Gaza. Relief agencies also aim to reach hundreds of thousands of people with basic shelter, provided they have access to the supplies they need.
Aid organizations are working to increase the flow of goods into Gaza through all available crossings and to prepare for distributions within Gaza. The World Food Programme (WFP) has begun to deliver aid to more than 1 million people. WFP trucks entered Gaza from Egypt and via Ashdod in Israel after the ceasefire entered into force.
The UN agency aims to bring at least 150 trucks into Gaza every day, if conditions allow. WFP plans to use every available crossing point to move supplies into Gaza. So far this year, WFP has only been able to reach 305,000 people in Gaza.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said it is ready to scale up its response, but that it needs conditions on the ground that allow systematic access to the population throughout Gaza, and that it is critical that security obstacles to operations are removed.
Most of Gaza's health infrastructure has been destroyed by more than a year of war. Only half of the territory's 36 hospitals remain partially operational, nearly all hospitals are damaged or partially destroyed, and only 38 percent of primary health care centers are functional.
An unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe has been raging in Gaza for more than fifteen months, with people dying from widespread attacks, starvation, dehydration, disease and hypothermia. The relentless operations by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have caused mass casualties and widespread destruction.
International humanitarian law requires Israel to ensure that the basic needs of the people of Gaza are met. This includes making sure that the people of Gaza have access to sufficient water, food, health care, and other basic necessities for survival.
Since Israel imposed a full siege on the Gaza Strip on October 9, the amount of aid entering the enclave has never been nearly enough to meet the needs on the ground. For more than a year, Israel deliberately failed to provide or even facilitate the delivery of critical supplies to the 2.1 million people still surviving in Gaza.
While the war in Gaza has been characterized by serious war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Israeli forces, a growing number of independent legal experts and international organizations have concluded that Israel's actions in Gaza against Palestinians as a group amount to genocide.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity in relation to the situation in Gaza. The ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant in November.
Israel launched its war on Gaza following a cross-border attack by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups in October 2023 that killed more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians. More than 240 hostages were taken and brought back to Gaza. Nearly 100 hostages are still being held by Hamas, about a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Between October 7, 2023, and January 18, 2025, more than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 110,000 others wounded, most of them civilians, according to Gaza health officials. An estimated 15,000 children are among the dead. More than 10,000 people, including thousands of children, are missing and presumed dead.
However, according to an analysis by researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), the civilian and total death toll from Israel's war in Gaza is far higher than official figures.
The analysis, published earlier this month in the scientific journal The Lancet, estimates that more than 64,000 Palestinians died as a result of violence in Gaza between October 2023 and June 2024, suggesting that the death toll is underreported by at least 40 percent.
The figures do not include Palestinians who died from causes indirectly related to the war, such as starvation, dehydration, and disease, nor do they include missing persons. Some 59 percent of the dead were women, children or the elderly, according to the peer-reviewed study.