Thailand's prime minister has announced that the 12 Thai hostages held by Hamas have been released, as part of the first major reprieve during seven weeks of a war that have claimed thousands of lives in Gaza.
The first tranche of 13 women and children Israeli hostages have been handed over to the Red Cross and are expected to go back to Israel via Egypt, AFP reports.
Qatar also confirmed the release of 39 Palestinian women and children held in Israeli jails. They were transferred to the Israeli-run Ofer prison in the occupied West Bank and then returned to a joyful welcome from their families.
Families gathered outside all evening anxiously awaiting the return of their loved ones.
Hamas and Israel had agreed to silence guns and stop bombings from 7:00 am (0500 GMT), as the women and children held hostage in Gaza were due to be freed at 4:00 pm, followed by a number of Palestinian women and children from Israeli jails, according to Qatari mediators.
Israel is set to release around 150 Palestinian women and child prisoners.
Aid trucks were also seen entering the Gaza Strip from Egypt around 1-1/2 hours after the truce began, as reported by Reuters TV.
Two of the trucks, representing Egyptian organisations, sported banners that said, "Together for Humanity." Another said: "For our brothers in Gaza."
Egypt has said 130,000 litres of diesel and four trucks of gas will be delivered daily to Gaza when the truce starts, and that 200 trucks of aid would enter Gaza daily.
Earlier this morning, Israeli forces opened fire in the area around Gaza's Al-Rantisi Hospital as displaced citizens attempted to return to their homes in the north.
Al Jazeera reported on Friday that the pediatric hospital was facing attacks, despite a four-day truce in the Israel's war on Gaza being declared to begin on Friday.
At dawn, thousands of people who had fled to areas near Gaza's border with Egypt were preparing to return to their villages, following the truce deal set to bring promises of respite from weeks of sustained Israeli bombardment.
However, Israeli warplanes over southern Gaza dropped leaflets warning people not to head back to the north, according to news agency AFP.
"The war is not over yet," the leaflets read. "Returning to the north is forbidden and very dangerous!!!"
The Palestinian government in Gaza says Israel's bombardment of Gaza has so far killed 14,854 Palestinians, including 6,150 children and over 4,000 women, according to the Palestinian government media office in Gaza.
According to the United Nations, 1.7 million of the territory's 2.4 million people are estimated to have been displaced.