A ceasefire in Gaza has come into effect, putting a halt to more than 15 months of devastating war. The agreement was set to be enforced earlier Sunday but was delayed by almost three hours when Hamas failed to provide on time the list of three female hostages that it would release on the first day.

The truce between Israel and Hamas was set to begin at 8:30 a.m. local time. The first Israeli hostages were to be released hours later in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.