DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Tens of thousands of Palestinians returned on Monday to the most destroyed area of the Gaza Strip, after Israel lifted its blockade of the north for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas, following the terms of a fragile ceasefire.
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A huge crowd of people walking with their belongings stretched along a long highway parallel to the coast, in a striking return of the massive exodus from the north seen at the beginning of the war, which many Palestinians feared Israel would maintain permanently.
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The Palestinians, who have been refugees for over a year in unsanitary camps made of tents and schools converted into shelters, are eager to return to their homes, although they know they have likely been damaged or destroyed.
This was the return of the Palestinians to the northern part of Gaza
Yasmin Abu Amshah, a mother of three, said she walked 6 kilometers to reach her home in Gaza City, which she found damaged but still habitable. She also saw her younger sister for the first time in over a year. "It was a long journey, but a happy one," she said. "The most important thing is that we made it back."
Many saw his return as a statement of persistence following the Israeli military campaign, initiated in response to Hamas' attack on October 7, 2023, and as a rejection of the suggestion by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, that many Palestinians be relocated to Egypt and Jordan.
The opening was delayed for two days due to a dispute between Hamas and Israel, which stated that the militant group changed the order of the hostages to be released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Mediators resolved the dispute overnight.
The ceasefire aims to de-escalate the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought by Israel and Hamas, and secure the release of dozens of hostages captured in the attack on October 7, 2023 that triggered the war.
Israel ordered the widespread evacuation of the north in the early days of the war and isolated it shortly after its ground troops entered the area. Around a million people fled to the south in October 2023 and had not been allowed to return. Hundreds of thousands of people remained in the north, where some of the worst fighting and most intense destruction of the war has been recorded.
From 7 in the morning, Palestinians were allowed to cross on foot without going through inspections by the so-called Netzarim corridor, a military zone that divides the territory just south of the city of Gaza, and that Israel established at the beginning of the war. The road control for vehicles was expected to open later with an inspection mechanism, details of which were not known at first.
The return was in doubt until the early morning.
Israel had delayed the opening of the crossing, which was supposed to happen over the weekend, stating that it would not allow Palestinians to head north until a civilian hostage, Arbel Yehoud, was released. Israel said that Yehoud should have been released before four young female soldiers, who were released on Saturday. It also accused Hamas of not providing information on whether the remaining hostages to be released in the first phase are alive or dead.
Qatar, a nation in the Persian Gulf and a key mediator with Hamas, announced early Monday morning that an agreement had been reached to release Yehoud along with two other hostages before Friday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that the release of the hostages - including soldier Agam Berger - will take place on Thursday.
Hamas also provided a list with the required information about the hostages who will be released in the first phase of the ceasefire, which lasts six weeks.