Hamas freed three Israeli and five Thai hostages in Gaza on Thursday, and Israel began releasing 110 Palestinian prisoners after delaying the process in anger at the swarming crowds at one of the hostage handover points.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed 15 months ago that Israel would achieve “total victory” in the war in Gaza — by eradicating Hamas and freeing all the hostages.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians streamed into Gaza’s most heavily destroyed area on Monday after Israel opened the north for the first time since the early weeks of the war with Hamas, a dramatic reversal of their exodus 15 months ago.

Fighting claimed lives until the final moments before the truce between Israel and Hamas took effect. For some, an unexpected delay of a few hours proved deadly.

There is "almost nothing left" of Gaza and rebuilding the war-ravaged enclave could take 10 to 15 years, U.S. President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff told Axios in an interview at the end of his trip to the region on Thursday.

The US Special Envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, has visited the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli media reports on Wednesday. US President Donald Trump's envoy visited the Netzarim Corridor, which was created by the Israeli military and divides the Gaza Strip into two parts,