Palestinians Return To North Gaza After Breakthrough On Hostages

Masses of fleeing Palestinians began flooding towards the north of the war-torn Gaza Strip on Monday, as Israel and Hamas announced a deal to free another six hostages.

The breakthrough sustains a fragile ceasefire and opens the path for additional hostage-prisoner swaps as part of an accord aimed at ending the more than 15-month conflict that has destroyed the Gaza Strip and displaced virtually all of its population.

Israel had been prohibiting Palestinians from returning to their homes in northern Gaza, accusing Hamas of breaking the conditions of the truce, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced late Sunday that they would be allowed to do so after a new agreement was struck.

On Monday morning, crowds began walking north along a coastal road, carrying whatever possessions they could, according to AFPTV photos.

“It’s a great feeling when you go back home, back to your family, relatives, and loved ones, and inspect your house—if it’s still a house,” displaced Gazan Ibrahim Abu Hassera told AFP.

The return, according to Hamas, is “a victory” for Palestinians and “signals the failure and defeat of the plans for occupation and displacement”.

Its supporter, Islamic Jihad, described it as a “response to all those who dream of displacing our people”.

The remarks come after US President Donald Trump proposed “cleaning out” Gaza and relocating Palestinians to Jordan and Egypt, prompting condemnation from regional leaders.

President Mahmud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, which is based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, issued a “strong rejection and condemnation of any projects” aimed at displacing Palestinians from Gaza, according to his office.

According to Bassem Naim, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, Palestinians would “foil such projects,” just as they have done with similar plots for displacement and alternate homelands throughout the decades.

For Palestinians, any attempt to move them from Gaza would evoke dark memories of what the Arab world calls the “Nakba”, or catastrophe — the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel’s creation in 1948.

“We say to Trump and the whole world: we will not leave Palestine or Gaza, no matter what happens,” said displaced Gaza resident Rashad al-Naji.

Trump had floated the idea to reporters Saturday aboard Air Force One: “You’re talking about probably a million and half people, and we just clean out that whole thing.”

Moving Gaza’s roughly 2.4 million inhabitants could be done “temporarily or could be long term”, he said.

Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich — who opposed the truce deal and has voiced support for re-establishing Israeli settlements in Gaza — called Trump’s suggestion of “a great idea”.

The Arab League condemned the notion, warning against “attempts to uproot the Palestinian people from their land,” and claiming that forced displacement could only be described as “ethnic cleansing.”

Jordan’s Foreign Minister, Ayman Safadi, stated that “our rejection of Palestinian displacement is firm and will not change.” Jordan is for Jordanians, while Palestine is for Palestinians.

Egypt’s foreign ministry stated that it rejects any violation of Palestinians’ “inalienable rights”.

Israel had stated that it would prevent Palestinians from traveling north until Arbel Yehud, a civilian woman prisoner, was released, which it claimed should have happened on Saturday.

However, Netanyahu’s administration later said that a deal had been made for the release of three captives, including Yehud, on Thursday and three more on Saturday.

Hamas acknowledged the arrangement in its own statement on Monday.

During the first phase of the Gaza truce, 33 hostages are expected to be released gradually over six weeks in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians held by Israel.

The most recent exchange saw four Israeli women hostages, all soldiers, and 200 inmates, nearly all Palestinians, released on Saturday, the second such exchange since the shaky truce entered its second week.
We want the arrangement to continue and for them to return our children as soon as possible – and all at once,” said Dani Miran, whose hostage son Omri is not scheduled for release during the first phase.

The cease-fire has brought an influx of food, fuel, medications, and other goods into the rubble-strewn Gaza, but the UN maintains “the humanitarian situation remains dire”.

Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas’ October 7, 2023 raid that sparked the conflict, 87 remain in Gaza, including 34 who the military claims are dead.

According to an AFP calculation based on official Israeli data, the Hamas strike killed 1,210 individuals, the majority of whom were civilians.

Israel’s retaliatory onslaught has killed at least 47,306 people in Gaza, the bulk of them are civilians, according to estimates from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which the UN considers accurate.