PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES (TIP): Thousands of displaced Palestinians were returning to the north of war-ravaged Gaza after Israel and Hamas reached a deal for the release of another six hostages. The Israeli government said on January 27 that eight of the hostages held in Gaza who were due for release in the truce’s first phase are dead.
The fragile ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas is intended to bring an end to more than 15 months of war that began with Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Israel had prevented Palestinians from returning to northern Gaza, accusing Hamas of violating the terms of the truce, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s office said late Sunday they would be allowed to pass after a new agreement was reached.
Hamas had said blocking the returns amounted to a truce violation.
Large crowds of people moved through the now-open Netzarim Corridor into the north, watched over by Israeli tanks. Some pulled carts weighed down with mattresses and other essentials. Others carried what belongings they could.
Late Monday, the Hamas government in Gaza said “more than 300,000 displaced” had returned during the day “to the governorates of the north”, an area of Gaza severely battered by the war.
After reaching the area, men embraced each other.
“Welcome to Gaza,” read a newly erected banner hanging above a dirt road in front of a collapsed building in Gaza City.
“This is the happiest day of my life,” said Lamees al-Iwady, a 22-year-old who returned to Gaza City after being displaced several times.
“I feel as though my soul and life have returned to me,” she said. “We will rebuild our homes, even if it’s with mud and sand.”
With the joy of return came shock at the extent of destruction wrought by more than a year of war. According to the Hamas-run government’s media office, 135,000 tents and caravans are needed in Gaza City and the north to shelter returning families.
Still, Hamas called the return “a victory” for Palestinians that “signals the failure and defeat of the plans for occupation and displacement”.
The comments came after US President Donald Trump floated an idea to “clean out” Gaza and resettle Palestinians in Jordan and Egypt, drawing condemnation from regional leaders.
President Mahmud Abbas, whose Palestinian Authority is based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, issued a “strong rejection and condemnation of any projects” aimed at displacing Palestinians from Gaza, his office said. (AFP)