Israel is allowing tens of thousands of Palestinians to return to northern Gaza under a ceasefire

Tens of thousands of Palestinians returned to the devastated Gaza Strip on Monday as Israel lifted its closure of the north for the first time in weeks. 15 month war with Hamas according to a a fragile ceasefire.

Huge crowds of people carrying their belongings on foot spread out along the highway that runs along the coast in a dramatic reversal of the mass exodus from the north at the start of the war, which many Palestinians feared would be perpetuated by Israel.

The opening was delayed for two days due to the conflict between Hamas and Israel, and the terrorist group has changed the order of the hostages it released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Arbitrators resolved the dispute overnight.

Separately, Israeli forces in southern Lebanon on Sunday they opened fire on the protesters demanded that they withdraw in accordance with the ceasefire agreement, killing at least 22 and wounding 124, Lebanese health officials reported.

Hours later, the White House said Israel and Lebanon had agreed to extend the deadline for Israeli troops to leave southern Lebanon until February 18, after Israel requested more time to withdraw beyond the 60-day deadline stipulated in the cease-fire agreement that halted the – Israel. -Hezbollah war in late November.

Israel has said it needs to stay longer because the Lebanese army has not yet reached all areas of southern Lebanon to ensure that Hezbollah does not reestablish its presence in the area. The Lebanese army said it could not disband until the Israeli army withdrew.

Palestinians who have been sheltering in squalid tent camps and school-turned-camps for more than a year are eager to return to their homes — knowing they may be damaged or destroyed. Many feared that Israel would make their exodus permanent, and expressed similar concerns about the idea floated by President Trump to resettle large numbers of Palestinians in Egypt and Jordan.

Ismail Abu Matter, a father of four who had been waiting for three days before crossing with his family, described the happy events on the other side, people singing, praying and crying when they were reunited with their relatives.

“It’s a joy to be back,” said Abu Matter, whose family was among the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled or were expelled from what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding its creation. “We thought we wouldn’t come back, like our ancestors.”

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

The ceasefire is intended to end the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and Hamas and to secure the release of dozens of hostages held in the United States. military attack on October 7, 2023which caused a fight.

Israel ordered a massive evacuation of the north in the early days of the war and closed it shortly after the ground troops entered. About a million people fled to the south in October 2023, while hundreds of thousands remained in the north, with others. of the heaviest fighting and the worst destruction of war.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel will continue to enforce the ceasefire and that anyone who violates or threatens Israeli forces will “face the full cost.”

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

Israel has delayed the opening of the crossing, which was supposed to happen over the weekend, saying it will not allow Palestinians in the north until the arrested woman, Arbel Yehoud, is released. It also accused Hamas of failing to provide information on whether the remaining hostages who were to be released in the first phase are alive or dead.

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

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

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that the release of the hostages – which will include female soldier Agam Berger – will take place on Thursday. That release will add to that already planned for next Saturday, when three hostages are due to be freed.

Hamas also provided a list of information needed about hostages to be released in the first phase of the six-week ceasefire.

As of 7 a.m., Palestinians are allowed to cross on foot without inspection into part of the area called the Netzarim Corridor, a military zone that cuts through the southern part of Gaza City that Israel carved out at the beginning of the war. The checkpoint was to be opened at a later date using a test method, the details of which were not immediately known.

Under the first phase of the ceasefire, which runs until early March, Hamas will release a total of 33 hostages in exchange for the release of approximately 2,000 Palestinians held by Israel. The soldiers have freed seven hostages, including four female soldiers on Saturday morningin the current ceasefire, in exchange for more than 300 prisoners, including many serving life sentences for deadly attacks on Israel.

The second – and most difficult – phase of the agreement has yet to be negotiated. Hamas says it will not release the 60 or so remaining hostages unless Israel ends the war, and Netanyahu says he remains determined to destroy the terror group and end its nearly 18-year rule in Gaza.

Hamas started the war when thousands of its soldiers stormed southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and abducting 250 others. About 90 hostages are still inside Gaza, and Israel believes about a third are dead.

Israel’s air and ground war has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. It does not say how many of the dead were soldiers. Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 soldiers, without providing evidence.

Israeli bombardment and ground operations displaced nearly 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, often multiple times, and flattened entire neighborhoods.