As the Gaza ceasefire takes hold, aid workers caution that the toughest challenges are yet to come, describing the truce as only the first step on a long road to recovery.

As a ceasefire brought calm to Gaza's ruined cities, Hamas was quick to emerge from hiding.The militant group has not only survived 15 months of war with Israel — among the deadliest and most destructive in recent memory — but it remains firmly in control of the coastal territory that now resembles an apocalyptic wasteland.

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

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.

Five people were killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza City after the beginning of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was delayed on Sunday, according to Palestinian reports. According to eyewitnesses,

Palestinians celebrated on the streets of Gaza as guns fell silent. Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv’s “Hostages Square” to watch news of the returnees.

The three women were in stable condition, Sheba Medical Center said, and authorities released footage of them reuniting with their families, hugging fiercely and sobbing.

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.

Since the first moment of the war, I have been thinking about when it will end—whether it will be in two days, or in a week, or perhaps much longer. I was following the news closely from the start, and soon after the beginning,

Honestly, my feelings are indescribable,” Boshara Amro, 21, told NBC News after her sister Jeneen was released.

After 15 months of collective grief and anxiety, three Israeli hostages left Hamas captivity and returned to Israel.