Displaced Palestinians,including children,returning to their destroyed homes after the ceasefire agreement (Picture: Getty)
Now that Israel has freed around 2,000 Palestinian hostages from prison and Hamas has released the last 20 captives,the question on everyone’s minds is ‘What is next for the ceasefire in Gaza’.
This was the first step towards the end of Israel’s full-scale war on Gaza as part of Donald Trump’s 20-point truce plan announced on October 8.
Yet,an end to Israel’s bombardments does not equate peace.
Many details regarding the disarmament of Hamas,the governance of the besieged territory and the full Israeli withdrawal remain to be negotiated.
What is the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire?
Ahead of the release of the hostages,Israeli soldiers withdrew to what is being called ‘the yellow line’ – a boundary within Gaza that marks the first of three stages of the military withdrawal.
This means that Israel still controls about 53% of the territory.
According to Trump’s plan,‘during this time,military operations,including aerial and artillery bombardment,will be suspended,and battle lines will remain frozen until conditions are met for the complete staged withdrawal.’
It says Gaza will be demilitarised and all ‘military,terror and offensive infrastructure’ will be destroyed.
It also says the Strip will be initially governed by a temporary transitional committee of Palestinian technocrats – supervised by a ‘Board of Peace’ headed and chaired by Trump and involving Tony Blair.
What is happening inside Gaza right now?
Humanitarian end has slowly started to enter the Strip,with aid workers and partners now able to move more easily ‘in multiple areas’.
An aerial view of the Al-Mawasi area,where thousands of displaced Palestinians live in makeshift tents by the sea (Picture: Getty)
‘Our humanitarian scale-up in Gaza is well underway,’ said UN humanitarian agency OCHA,which noted that it had secured Israeli approval for 190,000 tonnes of food,shelter items,medicine and other supplies to enter,20,000 more than previously agreed.
For the first time since March,cooking gas has been allowed inside the Strip.
In addition,‘more tents for displaced families,frozen meat,fresh fruit,flour and medicines also crossed into Gaza throughout the day on Sunday’,OCHA said in any update.
As Trump met with global leaders in Sharm el-Sheikh,Egypt,he said that reconstruction in Gaza has commenced as regional states finance the effort.
“We are ready to contribute to a stabilization force in Gaza,” says Pascal Confavreux,spokesperson for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.#GNT #France #Gaza @P_Confavreux pic.twitter.com/EMmCG8l58O
— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) October 13,2025
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Follow us to receive the latest news updates from Metro (Picture: Getty Images)Metro’s on Whatsapp! Join our community for breaking news and juicy stories.He said: ‘In another room,you have the wealthiest,some of the wealthiest nations in the world,all leaders. The big leaders are here,the emirs and the kings and everybody.‘I think you’ll see some tremendous progress both in the Middle East.’Has the Gaza ceasefire been broken?
The Israeli military said it opened fire today to remove a threat posed by suspects who approached its forces in the northern Gaza Strip.
Palestinians continue returning to the northern areas of the Gaza Strip (Picture: Getty)The military said the suspects had crossed a boundary for an initial Israeli pullback under the ceasefire plan,in a violation of the deal.Gaza’s local health authority said the Israeli military killed six Palestinians in two separate incidents across the territory.Is Hamas still operating inside Gaza?
Forcing Hamas to disarm,and demilitarizing Gaza – preconditions for Israel to pull out of the territory fully – could prove a lot harder than the release of the hostages.
People who have returned to their homes in Gaza City work to clear debris (Picture: Getty)Since the ceasefire,the Hamas-run Interior Ministry in Gaza has deployed security forces in what it has described as an effort to prevent a security vacuum that would be filled by lawlessness and looting.While Trump has demanded Hamas surrender their weapons,he indicated that it had a green light for internal security operations,saying they wanted ‘to stop the problems’ and ‘we gave them approval for a period of time’.This came as Hamas forces killed 32 members of ‘a gang’ in Gaza City in a security campaign launched after a ceasefire came into effect on Friday.As many as six of its militants were also killed in the clashes,a Palestinian security source said on Monday.The official said the security operation in Gaza City had targeted members of a ‘dangerous gang affiliated with a family in Gaza City’.The operation had led to the arrest of 24 people and 30 others being wounded,the official said.