Gaza City, Gaza - After a three-hour delay, a fragile ceasefire took hold in Gaza Sunday morning, with the first three Israeli hostages transferred to the Red Cross.

The hostages, all women, "were officially handed over to the Red Cross" in Gaza City ahead of their return to Israel, the senior Hamas official told AFP.

It came hours after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect in the morning after more than 15 months of Israeli assaults on Gaza.

An initial 90 Palestinian prisoners and hostages held in Israel are also set to be released.

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During the morning delay, Israel's military continued its attacks, with 19 people killed and 25 wounded in bombardments.

Minutes after the truce began, the UN said the first trucks carrying sorely needed humanitarian aid had entered Gaza, as displaced, war-weary Palestinians set off across the devastated strip to return to their home areas.

Thousands of people carrying tents, clothes and their personal belongings were seen going home, after Israel violently displaced the vast majority of Gaza's population, in many cases more than once.

In the northern area of Jabalia, hundreds streamed down a sandy path, returning to an apocalyptic landscape piled with rubble and destroyed buildings.

"We are finally in our home. There is no home left, just rubble, but it's our home," said Rana Mohsen (43), back in Jabalia.

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Another returning resident, Walid Abu Jiab, said he had found "massive, unprecedented destruction," with "nothing left" in Gaza's war-battered north, which has seen intense violence over the past months.

In the southern city of Rafah, Ahmad al-Balawi said that "as soon as I returned... I felt a shock."

"Entire areas have been completely wiped out," he told AFP, describing "decomposing bodies, rubble, and destruction everywhere."

Aid workers say northern Gaza is particularly hard-hit, lacking all essentials including food, shelter, and water.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said 600 trucks a day would enter Gaza after the ceasefire took effect, including 50 carrying fuel.

Jonathan Whittall, interim chief of the UN's OCHA humanitarian agency for the Palestinian territories, said on X that the first trucks started entering following the truce, after "a massive effort" to prepare for a surge of aid across the territory.

A total of 33 Israeli hostages, 31 of whom taken by militants during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack, will be returned from Gaza during an initial 42-day truce, in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians being held in Israel.

The truce is intended to pave the way for a permanent end to the war, but a second phase has yet to be finalized.

In a televised address on Saturday, Israeli Prime Minster Netanyahu – wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity – called the first phase a "temporary ceasefire" and said Israel had US support to return to the war if necessary.

Israel's mass destruction of Gaza, declared a genocide by human rights organizations and legal experts, has killed at 46,913 people, with the true death toll believed to be much higher.