Gaza ceasefire in effect, Israeli military says

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that Israel is “tightening the noose around Hamas from all sides,” and vowed that Gaza would be demilitarized following the Israeli government’s approval of a peace plan to end the war. 

“Hamas will disarm and Gaza will be demilitarized. If this can be achieved the easy way, all the better; if not, it will be achieved the hard way,” Netanyahu said, addressing reporters. 

The Israeli leader defended his record in prosecuting the war in Gaza, which has killed over 67,000 Palestinians, according to Hamas-run Gaza health authorities. 

“Anyone who claims that this hostage deal was always on the table is simply not telling the truth. Hamas never agreed to release all the hostages while we remained deep inside the Strip. It agreed only when the sword was on its neck, and that sword is still there,” Netanyahu said. 

An Israeli security source told CBS News on Friday that 600 trucks carrying humanitarian aid were set to enter Gaza in the coming days as the ceasefire takes hold.

The trucks will be from United Nations agencies, as well as other approved international organizations, the private sector and donor countries, the security source said. 

The aid will mainly consist of “food, medical equipment, shelter equipment, as well as fuel to operate essential systems and cooking gas.”

“Residents will be allowed to leave through the Rafah Crossing in coordination with Egypt, after security approval by Israel and under the supervision” of a European Union delegation,” the source told CBS News. 

A spokesperson for the U.N. office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs told CBS News Friday that an expanded flow of aid had not yet been allowed into the war-torn Palestinian enclave. UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, also said there had been no increase in the flow of aid into Gaza early on Friday.

Large plumes of smoke billowed into the skies above Gaza on Friday morning, and CBS News’ Debora Patta said Israeli bombs continued to fall on the Palestinian territory right up until the final hours before the military said the ceasefire had taken effect.

Israeli officials had said on Thursday that the ceasefire would take effect immediately upon the government’s approval of the deal, which came late Thursday evening, but the explosions continued for hours after that.

An Israeli military spokesperson said in an Arabic language statement directed at residents of Gaza on Friday that the “Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will remain stationed in designated areas within the Gaza Strip.”

“Do not approach IDF forces in these areas until further notice. Approaching these forces puts you at serious risk,” the spokesperson said. 

An Israeli official told CBS News that Hamas would release all outstanding hostages by noon local time on Monday, which would be 5 a.m. Eastern. 

President Trump said Thursday that all of the remaining Israeli hostages, including the bodies of deceased hostages held in Gaza, would likely be released “Monday or Tuesday” as part of the peace deal. 

Israeli officials believe there are still 48 people held captive in Gaza, 20 of whom are thought to be alive.

The Israeli military said Friday that a ceasefire in Gaza came into effect at noon local time (5 a.m. Eastern)  and that Israeli troops had begun withdrawing from parts of Gaza as part of the first phase of President Trump’s 20-point peace plan to end the two-year war and bring home the remaining Israeli hostages.

“Since 12:00, IDF troops began positioning themselves along the updated deployment lines in preparation for the ceasefire agreement and the return of hostages,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement Friday.

A spokesperson for the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office told CBS News’ partner network BBC News that Israeli troops would withdraw to a line leaving them in control of 53% of Gaza in the first phase of the plan. 

President Trump had said Wednesday on his Truth Social platform that Israel “will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line” as the first step towards his 20 point peace proposal to end the war in Gaza.