Monday marked the first day of peace in Gaza, as aid workers and civilians began to contemplate the vast devastation in the Strip.

The Gaza Civil Defense Agency, the main emergency response agency in the Gaza Strip, said it feared more than 10,000 bodies were still buried under the vast rubble.

Spokesman Mahmoud Basal told the BBC they hoped to recover the dead within 100 days, but that could be delayed by a shortage of bulldozers and other vital equipment.

New images from Gaza following Sunday’s ceasefire show the utter devastation wrought by Israel’s 15-month offensive, particularly in the north of the enclave.

The United Nations has previously estimated that 60% of buildings in the Gaza Strip have been damaged or destroyed.

Although explosions gave way to celebrations as the ceasefire began on Sunday, the reality facing people across Gaza remains desperate.

According to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), the war has left more than 2 million Gazans homeless and without income, relying entirely on food aid to survive.

Aid began flowing into Gaza immediately after Sunday’s ceasefire, with the United Nations saying at least 630 trucks had entered the strip by the end of the day, the highest number since the war began 15 months ago.

Sam Ross, acting director of UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza, said the aid was just the beginning of the challenge of bringing the Gaza Strip back to life.

“We’re not just talking about food, health care, buildings, roads, infrastructure, we’re talking about individuals, families and communities that need to rebuild,” he said.

“The trauma, the pain, the loss, the grief, the humiliation and the cruelty they’ve experienced over the last 16 months – it’s going to be a very, very long road.”

In Israel, family members of three hostages freed during the first exchange of fire spoke at a news conference in Tel Aviv on Monday night. Mandy Damari, the mother of dual Israeli-British citizen Emily Damari, said that although Emily lost two fingers in the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 , but she is still “in good spirits” and “on the road to recovery.”

Romi Gonen’s mother Merav Leshem Gonen said: “We got Romi back but all families deserve the same outcome, living and dead. Our hearts go out to the other families. exist.”

Ahead of the news conference, Israeli authorities released new video showing Damari, 28, Gonen, 24, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, in tears shortly after they were taken out of Gaza on Sunday. A tribute to their mother.

If the first phase of the ceasefire holds, 30 hostages will be released from Gaza over the next 40 days in exchange for the release of some 1,800 Palestinians from Israeli prisons.

Palestinian health authorities estimate that more than 46,900 people have been killed and more than 110,700 injured in Gaza during more than 15 months of war.

The ministry did not distinguish between civilians and combatants but said most of the dead were women and children – a claim backed by the United Nations.

A British-led study published this month in the medical journal The Lancet suggested the Department of Health data may have underestimated deaths by more than 40%.

Gaza’s civil defense agency said in a statement on Monday that 48% of personnel were killed, injured or detained in the clashes, and 85% of vehicles and 17 of 21 facilities were damaged or destroyed.

Although the risk of air strikes has disappeared, the grim work of the remaining civil defense staff continues. Photos shared with the BBC by members of the agency on Monday in northern Gaza showed the harrowing work they were doing, including retrieving dead babies and human remains in poor condition.

“There are dead people on every street. There are people under buildings in every neighborhood,” said Abdullah Al-Majdalawi, a 24-year-old civil defense worker in Gaza City.

“Even after the ceasefire, we still received many calls from people saying please come over. My family is buried under the rubble.”

Malaak Kasab, 23, a recent graduate displaced from Gaza City, told the BBC on Monday that her own family members were among those who had yet to be found.

“We lost a lot of family members and some are still under the destroyed buildings,” she said. “There were a lot of people under the rubble – everyone knew about it.”

She said Kasab’s home in the apartment building was not completely destroyed but was severely damaged. “No doors, no windows, no water, no electricity, nothing. Not even wood for a fire. It’s not habitable at all.”

As Israeli forces begin to withdraw from densely populated areas of the Gaza Strip, movements for displaced Gazans remain dangerous.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) warned people not to approach its personnel or facilities or enter the buffer zone it has created around the Gaza border and the Nezarim corridor, which bisects Gaza.

But many residents are eager to see what’s left of their homes early. Hatem Eliwah, a 42-year-old factory supervisor from Gaza City, said he was considering walking from his shelter in Khan Younis in the south.

“We have been waiting for a ceasefire, like people waiting to enter heaven,” Elivar said. “I lost two brothers and their families. I lost my cousins, my uncles. My only hope was to go home.”

There are serious concerns on both sides that the deal could collapse even before the first phase is completed in about six weeks, with Israel stressing that it reserves the right to resume military operations in Gaza at any time.

Speaking at a U.N. Security Council meeting on Monday, Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed the deal, calling it a “ray of hope” and saying its obligations must be met.

But Guterres warned that the situation in the occupied West Bank was deteriorating, with Israeli settler attacks on Palestinian villages increasing significantly since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.

“Senior Israeli officials have publicly stated that they will formally annex all or part of the West Bank in the coming months,” Guterres said, adding: “Any such annexation would constitute the most serious violation of international law.”

Muath Al-Khatib contributed to this report