Palestinians broke into wild celebrations on Thursday after news of a pact between Israel and Hamas that was to lead to an end to the two-year war in Gaza.

In the Strip, where most of the more than 2 million people have been displaced by the war, young men applauded in the devastated streets, even as Israeli strikes continued in some parts of the enclave.

People in the enclave wept and chanted, “Allahu Akbar” (“God is Greatest”), voicing hopes that the deal would end the war and let them return to their homes.

Senior Hamas official Izzat al-Risheq said in a statement that “the ceasefire is the fruit of the tremendous sacrifices and the legendary patience of our people, as well as the strength and steadfastness of the resistance.”

The Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group, second only to Hamas in Gaza, appeared to welcome the deal, going so far as to acknowledge the US and Arab mediation involved.

“What was achieved in the ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal is not a gift from anyone, yet we do not deny the Arab and international efforts,” the group said in a statement.

The statement emphasized “the tremendous sacrifices made by the Palestinian people” and rejected the idea that the agreement involves any capitulation.

US President Donald Trump overnight announced agreement on the deal from Israel and Hamas, the first stage of which is to see the release within days of dozens of Israeli hostages held in Gaza. In exchange, Israel will release nearly 2,000 Palestinian security prisoners, hundreds of whom were convicted of deadly terror attacks on Israelis. Also, there will be a surge of aid into Gaza after more than two years of war, which was started by Hamas’s unprecedented October 2023 attack on Israel.

Many other details of the agreement, dealing with postwar Gaza, have yet to be ironed out and sealed.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed Trump’s announcement and urged all parties to commit to an immediate implementation of the agreement, including the release of all hostages and Palestinian prisoners.

Abbas said the PA is willing to work with relevant mediators and international partners to ensure the success of the agreement. He also hoped that the deal would lead to a permanent political solution and the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

“There is relief [in the announcement] of a ceasefire agreement, and there is hope for a new future and a life of peace,” Gaza City Mayor Yahya Sarraj told The Times of Israel.

However, he added that “the bombings are continuing until this very moment, in different parts of the city and with terrifying sounds.”

The city has been the focus of a recent major offensive that Israel says aims to wipe out redoubts of Hamas.

Anas Arafat, a Gaza City resident who moved south over the past week, told The Times of Israel: “We are very happy that the war is over.”

“We hope to return to our home as soon as possible,” Arafat said. “It’s true that the houses were destroyed, but the most important thing is that we return.”

Arafat, whose many family members were killed and trapped under the rubble during an Israeli strike several months ago and were never recovered, added: “The most important thing is to retrieve the bodies that remain in the bombed house.”

“People in Gaza are happy but afraid of what’s to come — of returning to destroyed homes, of what life will be like in the coming days,” Ezz al-Din Shihab, a doctor from Gaza City who left the city southward about a month ago, told ToI. “Relatively speaking, how will the taste of normal life return?”

“Thank God for the ceasefire, the end of bloodshed and killing,” said Abdul Majeed Abd Rabbo in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

“I am not the only one happy, all of the Gaza Strip is happy, all the Arab people, all of the world is happy with the ceasefire and the end of bloodshed. Thank you and all the love to those who stood with us.”

Video filmed overnight showed dozens of Palestinians in the streets of Khan Younis and central Gaza dancing and singing to celebrate the announcement of a ceasefire agreement.

“Honestly, when I heard the news, I couldn’t hold back. Tears of joy flowed. Two years of bombing, terror, destruction, loss, humiliation, and the constant feeling that we could die at any moment,” displaced Gazan Samer Joudeh told AFP.

“Now, we finally feel like we’re getting a moment of respite,” he added.

Others despaired about returning since Israeli forces will stay in the enclave for now.

“Our house was among the first to be destroyed, so even if the war is over, we will remain living in tents, maybe for years until they rebuild Gaza, if the agreement holds,” Zakeya Rezik, 58, a mother of six.

While happy that none of her children were killed, she said their home was in a border area that would stay under Israeli control.

The media office of the Hamas-run Gaza government urged people not to return to their home areas until the agreement was officially detailed, in order to stay out of areas Israel still controls.

The Israeli military also warned residents of northern Gaza not to return, saying on X that it remained a “dangerous combat zone.”

The war was triggered on October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terror group Hamas led a devastating invasion of southern Israel that killed 1,200 people, and during which 251 people were abducted to Gaza. Of those, 48 remain in captivity. They include the bodies of at least 26 confirmed dead by the IDF. Twenty are believed to be alive and there are grave concerns for the well-being of two others, Israeli officials have said. Among the bodies held by Hamas is an IDF soldier killed in Gaza in 2014.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 66,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed over 22,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.

Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools and mosques.

Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 471. The toll includes two police officers and three Defense Ministry civilian contractors.