Tanks move along the Egyptian side near the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip on Sunday —AFP

Agencies JERUSALEM/CAIRO

Israel continued to strike Gaza up until the ceasefire finally came into effect at 11.15am local time (9.15am GMT) on Sunday, when Hamas posted the names of the three hostages on its social media channels. Palestinian medics said eight people were killed shortly after Israel and Hamas missed a deadline for a ceasefire. The Guardian put  the toll at 13. The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said at least eight people were killed in the Israeli attacks and dozens wounded.

Medics reported tanks firing in  the Zeitoun area of Gaza City, and said that an airstrike and tank fire also hit the northern town of Beit Hanoun, sending residents who had returned there in anticipation of the ceasefire fleeing. Once the ceasefire came into effect, Israeli forces started withdrawing from areas in Gaza's Rafah to the Philadelphi corridor along the border between Egypt and Gaza as  per the agreement,  pro-Hamas media reported early on Sunday.

If the ceasefire leads to a prolonged halt in fighting, what will come next in Gaza remains unclear in the absence of a comprehensive agreement on the post-war future of the enclave, which will take billions of dollars and years to rebuild. Hamas, which has controlled Gaza for almost two decades, has survived despite losing its top leadership and thousands of fighters.

The ceasefire has laid bare tensions within Israel's government, where powerful religious right wing members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government for months blocked attempts at the ceasefire deal.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and two other ministers from his nationalist-religious Jewish Power party resigned from the cabinet in opposition to the Gaza ceasefire deal,  their party said on Sunday. While the departure of the Jewish Power party from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government does not bring down the coalition or affect the ceasefire,  Ben-Gvir's departure has destabilized the coalition.