Medical teams at an Israeli hospital awaiting the arrival of hostages expected to be released from Gaza are "prepared for anything," Noa Eliakim Raz, head of the Returning Hostages Unit at the Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, told NBC News.

The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has brought cautious calm to the region as aid begins to flow into the Gaza Strip.

The Qatari prime minister told The New York Times that Gaza war mediators decided to delay talks on more difficult issues so a hostage-prisoner swap could be concluded quickly.

Now he was sitting with his fellow ministers to discuss how to bring to an end two years of hostilities that had reduced much of Gaza to a charred wasteland—but had left Hamas still standing.At Netanyahu’s invitation,

Israel's cabinet has approved the first stage of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal with Hamas — a move aimed at ending the two-year war in Gaza and freeing hostages on both sides.

The deal will see the release of hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and raises hopes for peace after two years of war.

Thousands of Palestinians streamed north along the coast of Gaza on Saturday, trekking by foot, car and cart back to their abandoned homes as a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas appeared to be holding.

Aid groups say they are cautiously optimistic that an Israel-Hamas ceasefire will result in open borders to flood aid into Gaza.

Israel assesses that Hamas may not be able to find and return all the remaining dead hostages in Gaza, according to three Israeli sources, a fact that may complicate efforts to reach a deal to end the war.