“An eerie quiet prevails on the first day of the truce,” writes Eman Alhaj Ali from Gaza. “For those who have lost their homes, the truce offers no solace.”

• The Electronic Intifada

“This war has been far more painful than any previous war against Gaza,” writes Ruwaida Amer from the besieged territory. “We really hope that this truce will lead to a permanent ceasefire.”

• The Electronic Intifada

The first stage of the prisoner exchange proceeded as 39 Palestinians in Israeli prisons were released to scenes of jubilation in the West Bank as crowds filled the streets and surrounded buses carrying the released children and women. Around the same time, 24 captives – 13 Israelis and 11 foreigners – were returned to Israel by the Qassam Brigades and quietly moved to an Israeli air base near Gaza after being handed over to the Red Cross at the border with Egypt.

Al Jazeera reported that the Israeli military’s de facto ceasefire line cuts Gaza in half, with the military blocking the two main north-south roads and preventing Palestinians from returning to the north. Palestinians had immediately tried to go back to their homes when the pause went into effect to check on what’s left, get belongings, and most crucially for many, to find their family and friends and neighbors under the rubble of Israel’s bombardment.

The pause in fighting began at 7am local time and live footage from Al Jazeera showed children in the streets playing and tens of thousands of people on the move throughout the southern Gaza Strip. Reporters and civilians noted the absence of Israeli military drones for the first time in years. Aid trucks were seen moving at the Rafah crossing.