U.S. President Donald Trump and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will on Monday chair a Gaza peace summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, also attended by world leaders including the U.N. chief.

Three Qatari diplomats were killed and two injured in a car crash on Sunday near the Egyptian town of Sharm el-Sheikh, according to the Gulf state's embassy.

Israel declared a ceasefire in Gaza and began to pull back its forces on Friday, as tens of thousands of exhausted Palestinians made their way back to their devastated homes.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Friday that Qatar will be allowed to build an air force facility at Mountain Home Air Base in Idaho that will house F-15 fighter jets and pilots.

The announcement comes soon after President Donald Trump signed an executive order vowing to defend the Gulf Arab state against attacks, following Israeli air strikes targeting Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital Doha.

Thousands of Gazans began heading north in the territory after the Israeli military announced that a ceasefire had come into effect on Friday, AFP footage showed.

A ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas for the Gaza Strip came into effect at noon local time, the Israeli military said Friday, adding that troops were withdrawing to agreed-upon deployment lines. The announcement came hours after Israel's Cabinet approved President Donald Trump's plan for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the release of the remaining hostages and of Palestinian prisoners.

Palestinians reported heavy shelling in parts of Gaza throughout Friday morning.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Friday that the government had "approved the framework" of a hostage release deal with Hamas, as both sides edged closer to ending more than two years of hostilities in Gaza.

An Israeli government spokeswoman on Thursday said high profile Palestinian prisoner Marwan Barghouti would not be exchanged as part of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal reached by Israel and Hamas.

When asked by a journalist whether Israel had agreed to release Barghouti, government spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian told a briefing that: "I can tell you at this point in time that he will not be part of this release."

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that an agreement to secure the release of hostages in Gaza will take effect only after receiving cabinet approval.

"Contrary to Arab media reports, the 72-hour countdown will begin only after the agreement is approved in the cabinet meeting, which is expected in the evening hours," Netanyahu's office said in a statement.

France on Thursday hosts foreign ministers from Arab and European countries for talks on helping the Palestinians once the Gaza conflict between Israel and Hamas ends, a meeting that comes hours after the two sides agreed a ceasefire deal.

Israel and Hamas earlier agreed a Gaza ceasefire deal to free the remaining living Israeli hostages held by the Palestinian militant group. It is a major step towards ending a war that has killed tens of thousands of people and unleashed a humanitarian catastrophe.