Gaza: Thousands of displaced Palestinians began returning to their abandoned and destroyed homes on Friday, after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect and Israeli forces began withdrawing from some areas of the Gaza Strip under an agreement to end the war.

According to National Iraqi News Agency, large crowds of displaced people moved north toward Gaza City, the largest urban area in the Strip, which was the target of a massive attack days earlier, in one of the fiercest Israeli military operations of the war. In the south, people made their way through Khan Yunis, Gaza’s second-largest city, which was destroyed by Israeli forces this year. Most of them walked in silence.

Palestinian health authorities reported that medical teams recovered 100 bodies from areas across the Gaza Strip after the army’s withdrawal. The Israeli army announced that the ceasefire agreement went into effect at noon local time yesterday.

The first phase of US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in the Gaza Strip stipulates the withdrawal of Israeli forces from some major urban areas in the Strip, while retaining control over about half of its territory. During the day, Israeli forces opened roads leading into cities, marking the first large influx of Palestinians returning from temporary camps to their abandoned homes.