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.

By Mohammed Salem, Nidal al-Mughrabi and James Mackenzie GAZA/CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Palestinians burst into the streets to celebrate and return to the rubble of their bombed-out homes on Sunday,

The Israel-Hamas war has devastated the Gaza Strip. Satellite photos offer some sense of the destruction in the territory.

Three female Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza for 15 months have been released and brought back to Israel, after a long-awaited ceasefire deal took effect. Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher, and Emily Damari, who is also a British citizen, were due to be freed in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Thousands of families have started walking or dragging carts from displacement camps in Gaza City toward the razed towns and cities of Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip.

The first hostages freed from Gaza under a long-awaited ceasefire agreement are back in Israel, and desperately needed aid is beginning to flow into the enclave. Follow for live updates.

There is no detailed plan in place to govern Gaza after the war, much less rebuild it. Any return of Hamas will test the patience of Israel, which has said it will resume fighting unless the group is dismantled.

Celebrations erupted across the war-ravaged territory and some Palestinians began returning to their homes despite the delay.

Mughrabi and James MackenzieGAZA/CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Palestinians poured into the streets to celebrate and headed back to the rubble of their bombed-out homes on Sunday as the Red Cross went to collect the first hostages to be freed in a ceasefire deal that halted fighting in Gaza after a rocky start.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the ceasefire in Gaza will not begin until Hamas provides the names of the three hostages it is set to release later on Sunday in exchange for scores of Palestinian prisoners.

The city of Jenin in the northern West Bank has been a flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades.