Palestinians find Gaza City in ruins as Hamas warns tough talks ahead

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians returned to a devastated Gaza City connected Saturday (October 11, 2025), arsenic Hamas warned the adjacent signifier successful U.S. President Donald Trump's bid plan would beryllium much hard than the first.

Mr. Trump's Middle East envoy promised Israeli hostage families their loved ones would beryllium returned to them by Monday, and the region's apical U.S. wide visited Gaza 1 time aft the guns fell silent.

Israel and Hamas are present expected to merchandise hostages and prisoners, 2 years aft the Palestinian militant group's October 7, 2023 onslaught triggered a counteroffensive that killed much than 67,000 Palestinians.

But aft the captive speech and a partial Israeli withdrawal, the conflict's U.S.-led mediators volition past person to unafraid a longer-term governmental solution that volition spot Hamas manus successful its weapons and measurement speech from governing Gaza.

In an interrogation with AFP successful Qatar, Hossam Badran, a subordinate of Hamas's governmental bureau, warned: "The 2nd signifier of the Trump plan, arsenic it is wide from the points themselves, contains galore complexities and difficulties."

Hamas to miss Gaza bid woody ceremonial signing

Hamas, helium said, would not be the ceremonial signing of the Gaza bid woody successful Egypt, wherever planetary leaders are owed to stitchery Monday to sermon implementing the archetypal signifier of the ceasefire.

Hamas is resisting calls to disarm. An authoritative from the group, speaking connected information of anonymity, told AFP that it was "out of the question".

Mr. Badran said that, portion the radical does not privation war, "our Palestinian radical and the absorption unit volition undoubtedly face and usage each their capabilities to repel this aggression if this conflict is imposed".

Multinational force

Under the Trump plan, arsenic Israel conducts a phased withdrawal from Gaza's cities, it volition beryllium replaced by a multinational unit from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, coordinated by a U.S.-led bid centre successful Israel.

On Saturday, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) main Admiral Brad Cooper, peculiar envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-on-law Jared Kushner visited Gaza to program the adjacent signifier of the truce with Israeli service main Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir.

U.S. envoy Witkoff, successful connection to Gaza hostages, says you are coming home

Witkoff, Kushner and Trump's girl Ivanka past went connected to Tel Aviv to be a vigil with the families of the remaining Israeli hostages held successful Gaza. A immense assemblage greeted them with cheers and chants of "Thank you Trump!".

"Your courageousness has moved the world," Witkoff told the families. "To the hostages themselves: you are coming home."

Einav Zangauker, whose lad Matan is 1 of astir 20 hostages believed to inactive beryllium alive, said: "We volition proceed to outcry and combat until everyone is home."

Hamas has until noon connected Monday to manus implicit 47 remaining Israeli hostages -living and dormant - from the 251 abducted 2 years ago.

The remains of 1 much hostage, held successful Gaza since 2014, are besides expected to beryllium returned.

In exchange, Israel volition merchandise 250 prisoners, including immoderate of those serving beingness sentences for deadly anti-Israeli attacks, and 1,700 Gazans detained by the subject since the warfare broke out.

The Israeli situation work said connected Saturday it had moved the 250 nationalist information detainees to the prisons of Ofer, successful the occupied West Bank, and Ketziot successful confederate Israel's Negev desert, up of the handover.

'Stood and cried'

According to Gaza's civilian defence agency, a rescue work operating nether Hamas authority, more than 500,000 Palestinians had returned to Gaza City by Saturday evening.

"We walked for hours, and each measurement was filled with fearfulness and anxiousness for my home," Raja Salmi, 52, told AFP.

When she reached the Al-Rimal neighbourhood, she recovered her location utterly destroyed.

"I stood earlier it and cried. All those memories are present conscionable dust," she said.

Drone footage changeable by AFP showed full metropolis blocks reduced to a twisted messiness of factual and alloy reinforcing wire.

The walls and windows of five-storey flat blocks had been torn disconnected and present laic choking the roadsides arsenic disconsolate residents poked done the rubble.

The United Nations humanitarian bureau says Israel has allowed agencies to commencement transporting 170,000 tonnes of assistance into Gaza if the ceasefire holds.

'Ghost town'

Men, women and children navigated streets filled with rubble, searching for homes amid collapsed factual slabs, destroyed vehicles and debris.

While immoderate returned successful vehicles, astir walked, carrying belongings successful bags strapped to their shoulders.

Sami Musa, 28, returned unsocial to cheque connected his family's house.

"Thank God... I recovered that our location is inactive standing," Musa told AFP.

"It felt similar a shade town, not Gaza," Musa said. "The odor of decease inactive lingers successful the air."

Israel's run successful Gaza has killed astatine slightest 67,682 people, according to the wellness ministry successful the Hamas-run territory, figures the United Nations considers credible.

The information does not separate betwixt civilians and combatants but indicates that much than fractional of the dormant are women and children.

The warfare was sparked by Hamas's October 7, 2023 onslaught connected Israel, which resulted successful the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based connected authoritative Israeli figures.