Live: Hamas to release Israeli hostages within hours, as Trump says ‘war is over’

“We are joyful to return to Gaza, but at the same time we have bitter feelings about the destruction,” Rami Mohammad-Ali, a Gaza resident, told the Reuters news agency by phone after walking 15km with his son from Deir al Balah to Gaza City.

“We couldn’t believe the destruction we have seen.”

Over the weekend, hundreds of humanitarian aid trucks began entering the occupied Palestinian territory from Egypt under the terms of the ceasefire deal. The Israeli military said it had withdrawn to a line, specified in the agreement, that leaves it in control of 53 per cent of Gaza.

Much of the strip has been razed to the ground by Israel, and residents returned to find rubble where their homes once stood. SBS News chief international correspondent Ben Lewis, reporting from Israel, said it was clear even from a distance “how much of the Gaza Strip has been flattened”.

“It’s unrecognisable from what it was before,” Lewis said.

— Josie Harvey