Under the terms of the fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal , fighting will be halted in Gaza for at least six weeks. Dozens of Israeli hostages and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners will be freed, while more aid flows in .

Hezbollah has praised the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip as a victory for the Palestinian people, saying Israel did not achieve any of its objectives.Hezbollah blasted the United States, saying that through its support to Israel,

Hamas is a Palestinian armed group and political movement in the Gaza Strip. On 7 October 2023 it attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages. This triggered a massive Israeli military offensive in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.

The ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas stretched into a fifth day on Thursday. Humanitarian aid groups are working to surge food and supplies to the war-ravaged territory as Palestinians scour through mountains of rubble looking for bodies of those killed by Israeli bombardments during the 15-month war.

A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza went into effect on Sunday morning. Hostages held in the strip and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails will be freed in the first phase of the deal. Meanwhile,

Qatar’s foreign ministry said the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas will go into effect at 0630 GMT on Sunday.

Though the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas will mean an end to the fighting, the devastating consequences of the war will drag on for years in both Gaza and Israel.

Officials say Hamas accepted a draft agreement for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and release of dozens of hostages

The Israeli army has killed nearly 20,000 fighters from Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, reported General Herzi Halevi, Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces.

To better understand what the cease-fire will mean for the Israelis, the Palestinians, and the Middle East, Foreign Affairs turned to Marc Lynch, a professor of political science at George Washington University and the director of its Middle East Studies program.

Palestinians celebrated on the streets of Gaza as guns fell silent. Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv’s “Hostages Square” to watch news of the returnees.