Israel on Monday began allowing thousands of Palestinians to return to the heavily devastated northern Gaza Strip for the first time in weeks 15-month war with Hamasin accordance with tenuous ceasefire.
The unveiling was delayed for two days amid a dispute between Hamas and Israel, which says the militant group changed the order of hostages it released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Mediators resolved the dispute overnight.
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Separately, Israeli troops in southern Lebanon on Sunday opened fire on the protesters Demanding their withdrawal under a ceasefire agreement, killing at least 22 and wounding 124, Lebanese health officials said.
Hours later, the White House said Israel and Lebanon had agreed to extend the deadline for Israeli troops to go into southern Lebanon until February 18, after Israel asked for more time beyond the 60-day deadline set by the ceasefire agreement. fire that stopped Israel -HEZBOLLAH WAR at the end of November.
Israel said it needed to stay longer because the Lebanese army had not deployed in all areas of South Lebanon to ensure that Hezbollah did not re-establish its presence in the area. The Lebanese army said it could not deploy until Israeli forces withdrew.
Palestinians who have been sheltering in gas tents and a school that has been turned upside down for more than a year are eager to return to their homes – even knowing that they have probably been damaged or destroyed. Many feared that Israel would make its 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 Materia, a father of four who waited three days before crossing with his family, described scenes of rapture from the other side, with people singing, praying and crying as they were reunited with relatives.
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“It's the joy of coming back,” said Abu Materia, 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 failure and defeat for (Israel's) occupation and transfer plans.”
The conflagration is aimed at starting the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and Hamas, and securing dozens of hostages captured Militant attack on October 7, 2023.which caused the fighting.
Israel ordered an optimal evacuation of the North in the days leading up to the war and sealed it shortly after the October 2023 they baked her. the heaviest fighting and the worst destruction of war.
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Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel would continue to abide by the ceasefire and that anyone who violates it or threatens Israeli forces “will face the full cost.”
“We will not allow a return to reality on October 7,” he wrote on the X platform.
Israel delayed the opening of the crossing, which was due to take place last weekend, saying it would not allow Palestinians north until the female civilian hostage, Arbel Yehud, was released. He also accused Hamas of not providing information on whether the remaining hostages in the first phase would be released alive or dead.
Hamas, in turn, accused Israel of violating the agreement by not opening the crossing.
The Gulf nation of Qatar, a key mediator with Hamas, announced early Monday that an agreement had been reached to release Yehuda, along with two other hostages, by Friday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that the release of the hostages, which will include the female soldier Agham Berger, will take place on Thursday. This release will be in addition to the one already set for next Saturday, when the three hostages are due to be released.
Hamas also handed over a list of required information on hostages to be released in the six-week first phase of the ceasefire.
Starting at 7 a.m., Palestinians were allowed to cross on foot without inspection through part of the so-called Netzarim Corridor, a military zone that has carved out territory south of Gaza City that Israel carved out at the start of the war. The vehicle checkpoint was to open later with a verification mechanism, details of which were not immediately available.
Under the first phase of the ceasefire, which runs until early March, Hamas must release a total of 33 hostages in exchange for the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Militants released seven hostages including four soldiers early Saturdayin the current ceasefire, in exchange for more than 300 prisoners, including many serving life sentences for deadly attacks on Israelis.
The second – and much more difficult – stage of the agreement has not yet been negotiated. Hamas says it will not release the remaining 60 hostages unless Israel ends the war, while Netanyahu says he is still committed to destroying the militant group and ending his nearly 18-year rule over Gaza.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched a war when thousands of its fighters invaded southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping another 250. About 90 hostages are still being held in Gaza, and Israel believes about a third are dead.
The air and ground war has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to the Gaza-based Hamas Health Ministry. It does not say how many of the dead were combatants. Israel says more than 17,000 militants have been killed without providing evidence.
Israeli bombardments and ground operations have displaced about 90% of Gaza's 2.3 million people, often multiple times and flattening entire neighborhoods.