Blasts were heard and seen in Gaza from southern Israel on Thursday morning, hours after Israel and Hamas said they had agreed to a long-awaited ceasefire and hostage deal, the first phase of US President Donald Trump’s plan to end a war in Gaza that has killed more than 67 000 people.

Just a day after the second anniversary of a militant attack in southern Israel that triggered Israel’s devastating assault on Gaza, indirect talks in Egypt yielded an agreement on the initial stage of Trump’s 20-point framework to bring peace to the Palestinian enclave.

The accord, if fully implemented, would bring the two sides closer than any previous effort to halt a war that had evolved into a regional conflict, drawing in countries such as Iran, Yemen and Lebanon, deepened Israel’s international isolation and reshaped the Middle East.

But the agreement announced by Trump late on Wednesday was short on detail and left many unresolved questions that could yet lead to its collapse, as has happened with previous peace efforts.