The agreement reached between Israel and Hamas for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages brought immediate jubilation to thousands across the decimated Palestinian territory, but both there and on the streets of Israel, hope was still tinged with anxiety on Thursday morning. The unrest was fueled by the increasing bloodshed in Gaza and the doubts cast by the Israeli leader on the strength of the agreement announced the previous evening.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that a “last-minute crisis” with Hamas is delaying Israel’s final approval of the long-sought truce. Israeli media reports suggest the delay is likely because Netanyahu is trying to buy time to deal with nationalist hardliners in his cabinet who have always been fiercely opposed to any deal with Hamas.

“We fully expect the deal to proceed as described yesterday, and according to the timeline we set out, so that implementation will begin as soon as Sunday with a ceasefire and the release of the first hostages,” US Deputy National Security Adviser Jonathan Finer said Thursday on “CBS Mornings,” acknowledging “a number of details and implementation conditions that will be challenging during the implementation of this contract, which will extend into the next administration.”

Finer said President Biden spoke with Netanyahu “twice in the last few days, including yesterday after the deal was reached in Doha.”

The deal is fragile, and its logistics will be extremely complex – even getting Hamas hostages safely to the handover site will pose significant security challenges.

The agreement is not expected to enter into force until Sunday, with an increase in the Israeli army attacks in Gaza instead of easing them after the deal — and none of the approximately 100 hostages were expected to return home for several days — no one who spoke to CBS News on either side of the border seemed ready to take for granted the tantalizing peace that loomed over above the horizon.

In Gaza, “a new opportunity for life”

For the people of Gaza, it was the best possible news. Hearing that the relentless bombing of their towns and villages would stop on Sunday brought them great relief and joy.

One boy who spoke to a CBS News team in the enclave summed it up in three words: “Let’s go home!”

Mahmood Kurdia, who lives in the southern city of Khan Younis after being driven from his home in northern Gaza, said he can’t wait to return, even though he knows there is practically nothing to return to.

“I want to return home to see my family, my neighbors and my home. Even though my home is now just a ruin, I still want to see it. I want to remove the rubble and put my tent on top of the ruin and tell Israel that I am back,” he told CBS News on Wednesday.”

However, like everyone else, he was well aware that peace, if it did come, was still three days away.

Israel appeared to have stepped up its strikes on Wednesday night, killing more than 70 people between the ceasefire announcement and Thursday morning, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry and the enclave’s Civil Defense rescue agency. Both agencies told CBS News that 21 children and 24 women were among the dead.

Still, Kurdia couldn’t help but hold onto hope.

“This news means a new opportunity for life,” he said. “This means a new opportunity for us to live and watch our children live, grow and be educated. It is just a new hope for survival. This is the ceasefire agreement that we hope to achieve.”

Relative of Israeli hostage happy – but “not breathing”

In Tel Aviv, a small crowd gathered Wednesday night at the site where protesters have demanded week after week from the Israeli government to return the remaining hostages home.

Yifat Kalderon was among them. Her cousin Ofer was among 251 people abducted during the October 7, 2023 Hamas terror attack in which the militants killed around 1,200 people and sparked a war that has raged for almost 480 days.

Ofer was among dozens of people kidnapped by gunmen who stormed Kibbutz Nir Oz. The 50-year-old is expected to be among the hostages released by Hamas in the first phase of a three-phase ceasefire agreement.

But when asked if she felt much relief Wednesday night, Calderon made it clear that the emotions would have to wait.

“No,” she said. “I’ll feel a great sense of relief when that’s done. When we get all the hostages 90-98 alive and the dead back home.”

As bombs continued to fall in Gaza and little to indicate any new level of trust between Israel and Hamas, families of hostages across Israel were left to wait and worry about everything else that could go wrong.

“I’m not saying I’m not happy,” Calderon said. “But I’m trying to, you know, take care of myself, not to be, you know, I don’t want to—I want to see them, first of all. Until I see them cross the line…I won’t believe anything.”

“I won’t breathe until then—we’ll bring them all home.”

Elizabeth Palmer

Elizabeth Palmer is a senior foreign correspondent for CBS News. She works in the London bureau of CBS News and reports on major events across Europe and the Middle East. Palmer previously worked in Tokyo, and before that in Moscow, for CBS News.