Even before the first phase is completed, the fragile cease-fire agreement that has paused 15 months of war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas faces increasingly long odds of lasting or even reaching phase two.

With a ceasefire agreement pausing the war between Israel and Hamas, Israeli troops have withdrawn from Gaza city centers. For the first time in eight months, NPR got a glimpse of Rafah this week.

The scale of destruction in the northern Gaza strip could be seen from southern Israel on Saturday morning as Israel and Hamas are expected to swap more hostages for Palestinian prisoners.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Jordan and Egypt should take more Palestinians from Gaza, where Israel's war against Hamas has caused a humanitarian crisis.

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

The US President was accused of supporting 'ethnic cleansing' after urging Jordan and Egypt to take in more Palestinians from Gaza. | ITV National News

Palestinians in Gaza are confronting an apocalyptic landscape of devastation after more than 15 months of fighting between Israel and Hamas. Mounds of rubble stretch as far as the eye can see in the tiny coastal enclave where built-up refugee camps are interspersed between cities.

President Trump called for Egypt and Jordan to accept additional Palestinian refugees while suggesting a plan to "just clean out" Gaza.

A Palestinian man was killed and seven people were wounded by Israeli fire overnight as crowds gathered in the hope of returning to the northern Gaza Strip under a fragile week-old ceasefire.

US President Donald Trump has floated a plan to "just clean out" Gaza, and said he wants Egypt and Jordan to take Palestinians from the territory, as a fragile truce between Israel and Hamas aimed at permanently ending the war enters its second week on Sunday (Jan 26).