Israel lets tens of thousands of Palestinians start returning to northern Gaza as ceasefire holds

Tens of thousands of Palestinians returned to the most strongly destroyed part of the Gaza Strip on Monday while Israel has raised its closure of the North for the first time since the first weeks of The 15 -month war with Hamas in accordance with a fragile cease.

Massive crowds of people carrying their personal effects on foot extended along a main highway which flows next to the coast in an astonishing reversal of the mass exodus of the north at the start of the war, that many Palestinians feared that Israel would make permanent.

The opening was delayed by two days over a dispute between Hamas and Israel, which said that the militant group had changed the hostage order which it released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Mediators resolved the dispute overnight.

For thousands of Palestinians in Gaza: “The joy of the return”

From 7 am, local time on Monday, the Palestinians were allowed to cross on foot without inspection through part of the so-called netzarim corridor, a military zone bisiting the territory just south of the city of Gaza that Israel dug early in the war. A checkpoint for vehicles was to open later with an inspection mechanism, the details of which were not immediately known.

The Palestinians who have sheltered in sordid tent camps and schools that have become shelters for over a year are impatient to return home – even knowing that they have was probably damaged or destroyed. Many feared that Israel rendered their permanent exodus and expressed similar concerns concerning an idea floated by President Trump to reinstall a large number of Palestinians in Egypt and Jordan.

“We want to go see my mother and my father,” said Ahmad Adas. “It’s been a long time.”

“I have been waiting for three days to go to my parents. We are tired, I want to go to Gaza (city), we are not going back here,” added Mohammed Adas. They had both spent several days with thousands of others on the southern side of the Israeli checkpoint, waiting to cross before the dispute between Israel and Hamas were resolved.

Ismail Abu Matter, a father of four who had waited three days before crossing with his family, described scenes of jubilation on the other side, with singing, praying and crying while they found relatives.

“This is the joy of the return,” said Abu Matter, whose family was one of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled or were driven out of what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding its creation. “We had thought that we would not come back, like our ancestors.”

Hamas called the return “a victory for our people, and a declaration of failure and defeat for the (Israeli)” plans of occupation and transfer “.

The ceasefire aims to finish the deadliest and most destructive war that has ever fought between Israel and Hamas and guarantee the release of dozens of hostages captured in The attack on activists of October 7, 2023Which triggered the fighting.

Israel ordered the evacuation of the North scale in the first days of the war and sealed it shortly after the ground troops moved. About a million people fled to the south in October 2023, while hundreds of thousands remained in the North, who had some of the heaviest fights and the worst destruction of war.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Israel would continue to enforce the ceasefire and that whoever raped it or threatened the Israeli forces “will bear the total cost.”

“We will not allow a return to reality of October 7,” he wrote on the X platform.

Israel had delayed the opening of the level passage, which was to occur over the weekend, claiming that this would not allow the Palestinians of the North until the liberation of a civil hostage, Arbel Yehoud, would not have been released. He also accused Hamas of not having provided information on the fact that the remaining hostages that should be released in the first phase are alive or dead.

Hamas has in turn accused Israel of violating the agreement by not opening the crossing.

Hamas provides information on the hostages to be published in the 1st phase of the ceasefire

The Nation of the Gulf of Qatar, a key mediator of Hamas, announced early Monday that an agreement had been concluded to release Yehoud with two other hostages before Friday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that the release of the hostages – who will understand the soldier Agam Berger – will take place on Thursday. This version will be added to that already defined for next Saturday, when three other hostages should be published.

Hamas has also given a list of information required on all hostages that will be published during the first phase of six weeks of the ceasefire. Israeli government spokesman David Mencer told journalists that the list was received overnight in Hamas showed that eight of the 33 hostages to be published during the first phase died, which means that 25 are still alive.

Families have been informed, said stuck.

During the first phase of the ceasefire, which takes place until early March, Hamas agreed to release a total of 33 hostages in exchange for the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Activists have published seven hostages, Including four soldiers early SaturdayIn the current ceasefire, in exchange for more than 300 prisoners, including many perpetuity convictions for deadly attacks against the Israelis.

Israeli officials say that 87 of the 251 hostages removed by Hamas during the bloody of the group of October 7, 2023 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 people who were confirmed dead by the Israeli army.

The second phase and much more difficult in the agreement has not yet been negotiated. Hamas says that it will not release the 60 hostages remaining unless Israel ends the war, while Netanyahu says that it is still determined to destroy the militant group and end its rule of almost 18 years On Gaza.

As Ramy Inocencio de CBS News reported on Monday, several Israeli media said that President Trump’s special envoy in the Middle East Steve Witkoff was to visit Israel this week. The objective is to keep the ceasefire on the right track and to go to the second phase, when older Israeli men and younger soldiers will be, let’s hope, hope to be released. There are three two American nationals included among this group.

Hamas sparked the war when thousands of its fighters broke into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mainly civilians and removing 250 others. About 90 hostages are still inside Gaza, and Israel thinks that around a third are dead.

The air and land war of Israel killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, including more than half of women and children, according to the Ministry of Health managed by Gaza. He doesn’t say how many deaths were fighters. Israel says he killed more than 17,000 activists, without providing evidence.

Israeli bombings and ground operations moved around 90% of the 2.3 million people in Gaza, often several times, and flattened with whole neighborhoods.

The ceasefire retains after clashes on the withdrawal of Israel Lebanon

In addition, Israeli forces in southern Lebanon opened fire on Sunday on demonstrators require their withdrawal in accordance with A ceasefire agreement In the related parallel conflict of Israel with the group supported by Iran, Hezbollah. At least 22 people were killed and 124 others injured in clashes, Lebanese health officials reported.

A few hours later, the White House said that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to extend the deadline for Israeli troops to leave the south of Lebanon until February 18, after Israel asked for more time to withdraw Beyond the deadline of 60 days stipulated in the ceasefire agreement which interrupted Israel-the Hezbollah war at the end of November.

Israel said that he had to stay longer because the Lebanese army has not moved to all regions of southern Lebanon to ensure that Hezbollah does not restore its presence in the region. The Lebanese army said it could not deploy until the Israeli forces withdraw.