After 15 months of genocide, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are returning to northern Gaza as part of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Early Monday morning, Palestinians huddled with their belongings in sacks and plastic bags and began heading north on foot through the so-called Netzarim Corridor, Al Jazeera reported.
“We are going to start rebuilding our homes brick by brick, wall by wall,” one forcibly displaced Palestinian told Al Jazeera. “We’ll start by removing the rubble and try to rebuild again.”
People returned to Gaza on foot as the US and Qatar helped preserve two ceasefire agreements between Gaza’s Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, both of which were on the verge of collapse over the weekend. .
“There is a growing sense of excitement and happiness,” said an Al Jazeera reporter from Gaza.
“I saw a change in everyone’s mood. I have never seen happier people in the last 15 months,” the reporter said.
“People say this moment is historic. They say this is as important as announcing a ceasefire. For them, today is a day of victory.”
Hamas called the return a “victory” for the Palestinians, and its ally the Palestinian Islamic Jihad said it was “a response to all those who dream of expelling our people.”
In Gaza, a dispute over the return of certain hostages by Hamas led to Israeli forces blocking the return of Palestinian residents to northern Gaza.
Hamas said in a statement that Palestinians who have returned to areas from which they were forcibly displaced affirm their connection to their land and that “the occupation has achieved its aggressive goal of displacing people and breaking their steadfast will.” “We are proving once again that we could not do it.”
Early in the war, Israel forcibly evacuated approximately 1.1 million people from northern Gaza in preparation for a ground invasion.
In Lebanon, Israeli troops opened fire on civilians as they tried to return to villages in the country’s south that Israeli forces were supposed to evacuate by Sunday.
Disagreements between Israel and resistance groups it has been fighting for decades have recently highlighted low levels of trust between the warring parties. But last-minute negotiations involving officials from Qatar’s capital Doha and Washington, D.C., managed to keep the cease-fire agreement in place, NPR reported, according to Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East.
“There was a crisis,” Witkoff said in comments to reporters in New York on Sunday night. “We managed to get through it with good dialogue and conversation. This is something we all need to stay positive about. It’s an expression of that.” He praised the Qatari Prime Minister and the Israeli government for their contributions to resolving their respective conflicts.
Over the weekend, Israeli leaders decided to return displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza on the condition of the immediate release of Israeli female civilian Arbel Yehud, and the cease-fire agreement puts civilian women ahead of female soldiers. They argued that four of them should be sent home before the female soldiers. It was released on Saturday.
The resolution comes after Qatar announced it had helped broker a compromise, with the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which helped broker a comprehensive ceasefire agreed two weeks ago, saying Hamas had until Friday to hand over the three hostages. announced.
Three hostages held by Hamas since October 7, 2023 are scheduled to be released on Thursday, slightly earlier than the previously agreed release date for three more hostages, according to a statement from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office. It will be.
One of them was at the center of a conflict this weekend after Hamas officials argued that she would not be prioritized for release along with other civilian women and children because she is actually an Israeli soldier. This includes Mr. Yehud, a civilian. Agam Burger, a female soldier, will also be released on Thursday. The identity of the third hostage to be released has not been made public.
A statement from the Qatari Foreign Ministry said Hamas would also provide information on the status of the remaining 26 Israeli hostages to be released during the first six weeks of the agreement.
Meanwhile, in southern Lebanon, a 60-day ceasefire agreement that the United States helped broker in November to temporarily end fighting between Israeli forces and the Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah expired on Sunday.
Israeli forces on Sunday opened fire on people who tried to flee them into remote villages in southern Lebanon, where Israeli forces have not yet evacuated. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said 22 people were killed and 124 injured in the shooting.