A ceasefire in the Gaza Strip took effect on Sunday as Hamas released the first three female hostages it held for 15 months of the devastating war.

Israel pounded Iran with a series of airstrikes, saying it was targeting military sites in retaliation for the barrage of ballistic missiles the Islamic Republic fired upon Israel earlier in October.

Israel’s military says that eight soldiers have been killed in southern Gaza in the deadliest attack on Israeli forces in months.

They arrived in the middle of the day, when the squat concrete buildings of the Nuseirat refugee camp are stifling and the narrow streets outside are filled with people.

Palestinian health officials say an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced families in central Gaza killed at least 33 people including 12 women and children.

Booms and air raid sirens have sounded across Israel after Iran launched hundreds of drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles in an unprecedented revenge mission that pushes the Middle East closer to a regionwide war.

On Monday, the Israeli military withdrew from its second devastating raid on Gaza’s largest hospital, Shifa, leaving it in ruins, with the walls blown out and frame blackened.

Israeli forces have stormed the main hospital in southern Gaza in what the army says is a search for the remains of hostages taken by Hamas.

Israel’s military has issued its most detailed warning yet to Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon that it would be “ready to attack immediately” if provoked.

The Israeli military says it has excavated a large tunnel shaft in Gaza close to a major crossing with Israel.

The hostages Hamas fighters are holding include Kfir, a 10-month-old baby boy; his 4-year-old brother Ariel; and his parents Yarden and Shiri Bibas.

Nearly three dozen trucks entered Gaza in the largest aid convoy since the war between Israel and Hamas began, but humanitarian workers say the assistance still falls desperately short of needs after thousands of people broke into warehouses seeking food.

The Israeli army says its ground forces are “expanding their activity” in the Gaza Strip, as it moves closer to a full-on ground invasion of the besieged territory.

Israel’s intelligence agencies have gained an aura of invincibility over the decades because of a string of intelligence achievements against its enemies both near and far.