“Gaza, with its great people and its resilience, will rise again to rebuild what the occupation has destroyed and continue on the path of steadfastness until the occupation is defeated,” Hamas said in a statement after the cease-fire.

Trump sent Witkoff to ensure the ceasefire agreement advances to the second phase, which will require hashing out more thorny questions about Gaza’s future.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed that the Biden administration had earmarked $50 million for a condom distribution programme in the Gaza Strip. Her comments came as she was justifying Donald Trump’s sweeping freeze on all foreign aid.

Wealthy Arab nations consider bankrolling Gaza’s reconstruction, but they want assurances Palestinians will lead in the postwar period.

President Trump has floated the idea of relocating Gazans to other Muslim countries so that reconstruction can get underway.

The Israel-Hamas war, now nearing a potential ceasefire, has devastated the Gaza Strip. Satellite photos offer some sense of the destruction in the territory, which has been largely sealed off to journalists and others.

President Donald Trump said he wanted Jordan and Egypt to take in more Palestinians from Gaza so they could "maybe live in peace" there.

Jordan's air force launched on Tuesday the biggest air bridge so far to bring urgent medical supplies to Gaza under a U.S.-sponsored deal to step up deliveries following a ceasefire, officials said.

More than 375,000 Palestinians have made their way back to homes in northern Gaza after 15 months on the run because of war

Crowds of displaced Palestinians made the arduous journey back to heavily destroyed northern Gaza for a second day Tuesday, under a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel has begun allowing Palestinians to return to the heavily destroyed north of the Gaza Strip for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas, in accordance with a fragile ceasefire.