Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians returned to a devastated Gaza City on Saturday, as Hamas warned the next stage in US President Donald Trump's peace plan would be more difficult than the first.

Trump's Middle East envoy promised Israeli hostage families their loved ones would be returned to them by Monday, and the region's top US general visited Gaza one day after the guns fell silent.

Israel and Hamas are now expected to release hostages and prisoners, two years after the Palestinian militant group's October 7, 2023 attack triggered a counteroffensive that killed more than 67,000 Palestinians.

But -- after the prisoner exchange and a partial Israeli withdrawal -- the conflict's US-led mediators will then have to secure a longer-term political solution that will see Hamas hand in i

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