Rarely seen in the open while the war raged, masked and armed fighters spread out publicly through Gaza’s cities in a show of force on Sunday.

Turkey's intelligence chief discussed efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza in a phone call on Monday with officials from the political wing of Palestinian militant group Hamas, a Turkish security source said.

Rifts with Hamas and a far-right minister’s threat to resign complicated progress toward the Israeli cabinet’s vote on the deal, which includes the release of hostages.

Smotrich said he has received assurances that Israel will resume the war after the first phase, during which 33 hostages held in Gaza are to return home and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are to be freed. The second phase, which must still be negotiated, is to work out an end to the war and return of all remaining hostages.

As the Gaza ceasefire takes hold, aid workers caution that the toughest challenges are yet to come, describing the truce as only the first step on a long road to recovery.

Hundreds of Israelis gathered in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, some cheering and some in tears, as a giant television screen broadcast the first glimpse of the first three hostages to be released under the Gaza ceasefire deal.

A fire at a hotel at a ski resort in north-western Turkey has killed at least at least 10 people. The families of three Israeli hostages set free by Hamas have thanked everyone involved in their release as the search for bodies of thousands of casualties underway in Gaza.

Israel says it has killed thousands of the armed group’s members and destroyed much of its infrastructure, but since the cease-fire started Hamas has shown it still holds power in the enclave.

As the long-awaited ceasefire comes into effect, here’s a look – in 6 graphics – at what Gaza is like after 15 months of war.

Drone footage captured by The Associated Press shows mounds of rubble stretching as far as the eye can see — remnants of the longest and deadliest war between Israel and Hamas in their blood-ridden history.

A warning has gone out to seafarers in the Persian Gulf over what appear to be attempts by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard to compel ships to enter Iranian waters. While Iran has a history of harassing and impounding vessels,