A huge column of people filed on foot north along the coastal road overlooking sandy beaches towards Gaza City, the enclave's biggest urban area, which had been under attack just days ago in one of Israel's biggest offensives of the war.
"Thank God my house is still standing," Ismail Zayda, 40, said in the Sheikh Radwan district of Gaza City. "But the place is destroyed, my neighbours' houses are destroyed, entire districts have gone."
In the south, people picked their way through the dusty moonscape that was once Gaza's second-largest city, Khan Younis, which Israeli forces razed in 2025. Most walked in silence.
A middle-aged man, Ahmed al-Brim, was pushing a bicycle with bundles of scrap timber tied to the front and back: his family would need the firewood to cook. It was all they had been able to recover from the ruins of their home.
"We went to our area. It was exterminated. We don't know where we will go after that," he said. "We couldn't get the furniture, or clothes, or anything, not even winter clothes. Nothing is left."
Palestinian health authorities said medical teams were able to recover 100 bodies from areas across the Gaza Strip after the army pulled back.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, US President Donald Trump expressed confidence the ceasefire would hold.
"They're all tired of the fighting," he said, adding he believed there was a "consensus" on the next steps but acknowledged some details would still have to be worked out.
The Israeli military said the ceasefire agreement had been activated on Friday at noon local time (8pm AEDT).
The first phase of Trump's plan to halt the conflict between Israel and the Hamas militant group gives Israeli troops 24 hours to pull from positions in urban areas, although they will still hold more than half of Gaza.
Israeli police said they were preparing for Trump's visit on Monday which officials said would include a speech to the Knesset, Israel's parliament, the first by a US president since George W Bush in 2008.
Trump said he would also travel to Egypt and other world leaders were expected to be present. Axios reported earlier that Trump plans to convene an international summit on Gaza while in Egypt.
The next phase of Trump's plan calls for an international body - the "Board of Peace" - to play a role in Gaza's post-war administration. The plan calls for Trump to lead it and includes former British prime minister Tony Blair.
But in a potential challenge to this element of the plan, Hamas issued a statement late on Friday rejecting what it called any "foreign guardianship," adding that governance of Gaza was purely an internal Palestinian matter.
In a televised address, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces were staying in Gaza to ensure Hamas was disarmed.
"If this is achieved the easy way, then that will be good, and if not, then it will be achieved the hard way," he said.
Israel's government ratified the ceasefire with Hamas in the early hours of Friday. Once Israeli troops have pulled back, Hamas has 72 hours to release the 20 living Israeli hostages it is still holding.
Trump said the hostages are due to "come back" on Monday.
Israel will free 250 Palestinians serving long terms in its prisons and 1700 detainees captured during the war. Hundreds of trucks per day are expected to surge into Gaza carrying food and medical aid.
