A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has held in the Gaza Strip for a third day ahead of the expected release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners and an address by US President Donald Trump to Israel's parliament.

Thousands of Palestinians continued to travel north towards Gaza City, the focus of Israeli attacks over the past two months, hopeful the ceasefire would bring an end to the war.

"There is a lot of joy among the people," said Abdou Abu Seada, adding that the joy was tempered by exhaustion after two years of war that has destroyed much of the Gaza Strip.

Government spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian said that Israel expected the hostages to start being released early on Monday morning with the 20 living hostages to be released together.

In the event that hostages were relea

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