Humanitarian aid is beginning to reach Gaza as a Qatar-mediated four-day truce, marking the first pause after seven weeks of hostilities between Israel and Hamas, takes effect.
Palestinians welcome the relief during this break in fighting, starting at 7 a.m. (05:00 GMT) on Friday.
As part of the truce, 150 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and 50 captives held by Hamas in Gaza are set to be released.
The first releases, involving 39 Palestinians and 13 Israelis, are anticipated for Friday afternoon.
Preceding the truce, Israeli airstrikes intensified in Rafah and Khan Younis in the south, with constant artillery shelling in the northern Gaza Strip.
A video posted by Almog Boker, a correspondent for Channel 13, shows Israeli soldiers celebrating as buildings in the northern Gaza Strip were destroyed in the last hour before the truce began.
The first pause in the fighting was met with huge relief by Palestinians, who were rejoicing to be safe from Israeli bombardment for the first time in weeks, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum reported from Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
“This is the first time that we have not heard Israeli drones since the beginning of this round of fighting,” he said. “People sense that there is a glimmer of hope that this short-term pause will pave the way for a longer ceasefire.”