Palestinians pour into the most devastated part of the Gaza Strip

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) – Tens of thousands of Palestinians poured into the most devastated part of the Gaza Strip on Monday, as Israel lifted the closure of the north for the first time since the first weeks of the 15-month period. the war with Hamas in accordance with a fragile ceasefire.

Massive crowds of people walking with their belongings lined a main road that ran alongside the coast in a stunning reversal of the mass exodus from the north at the start of the war that many Palestinians he feared that Israel would become permanent.

Palestinians who have been sheltered in squalid tent camps and schools turned into shelters for more than a year are eager to return to their homes – even though are likely to have been damaged or destroyed.

Yasmin Abu Amshah, a mother of three, said she walked 6 kilometers (nearly 4 miles) to her home in Gaza City, where she found it damaged but still habitable. She also saw her younger sister for the first time in over a year.

“It was a long but happy journey,” she said. “The most important thing is that we came back.”

Many saw their return as an act of resolve following Israel’s military campaign, which began in response to an October 7, 2023 attack by the militant group Hamas in southern Israel. The return was also seen as a repudiation of the US President Donald Trump’s suggestion for large numbers of Palestinians to move to Egypt and Jordan.

‘The Joy of Return’

Ismail Abu Matter, a father of four who waited for three days near the crossing before moving north with his family, described scenes of joy on the other side, with people singing, praying and crying as they were reunited with him relatives.

“It’s the joy of returning,” said Abu Matter, whose relatives were among the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled or were expelled from what is now Israel during the 1948 war that surrounded its creation. “We had thought that we would not return, like our ancestors.”

The opening was delayed for two days because of a dispute between Hamas and Israel, which said the militant group changed the order of hostages it released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Moderators settled the dispute overnight.

Hamas said the return was “a victory for our people and a declaration of failure and defeat for the (Israeli) plans of occupation and transfer.”

The ceasefire aims to end the deadliest and most destructive war ever between Israel and Hamas and secure the release of dozens of hostages taken in the October 7 attack. Militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in that attack and kidnapped another 250.

Israel responded with an air and ground war that has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. It is not said how many of the dead were fighters. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

In the early days of the war, Israel ordered a large-scale evacuation of the north and ended it shortly after ground troops moved in.

About a million people fled to the south in October 2023, while hundreds of thousands remained in the north, which saw some of the fiercest fighting and the worst destruction of war. In total, about 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced.

The hostage standoff rocked the week-long ceasefire

Israel had delayed the opening of the crossing, which was supposed to happen over the weekend, saying it would not allow Palestinians into the north until a female civilian hostage, Arbel Yehoud, was released. Israel said she should have been released before the four young female soldiers, who were released on Saturday.

He also accused Hamas of failing to provide information on whether the remaining hostages to be released in the first phase of the deal are alive or dead. About 90 hostages are still inside Gaza and Israel believes about a third of them are dead.

Hamas, for its part, 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 a deal had been reached to release Yehoud along with two other hostages.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that the release of the hostages, which will include soldier Agam Berger, will take place on Thursday. Three more hostages are expected to be released on Saturday as previously planned.

Hamas also submitted a list of hostages to be released in the first six-week phase of the ceasefire.

Beginning at 7 a.m., Palestinians were allowed to cross on foot without inspection through a coastal road that ran through part of the so-called Netzarim Corridora military zone that halves the territory south of Gaza City that Israel established at the beginning of the war. A vehicle checkpoint was later opened on Gaza’s main north-south highway, where traffic was backed up for about 3 kilometers (2 miles).

Under the ceasefire agreement, vehicles must be inspected for weapons before entering the north, but the mechanism for this was not immediately clear.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel would continue to enforce the ceasefire and that anyone who violates it or threatens Israeli forces “will bear the full cost.”

“We will not allow a return to the reality of October 7,” he wrote on social media platform X.

A second and more difficult phase is expected

Under the first phase of the ceasefire, Hamas will release a total of 33 hostages in exchange for the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. So far under the ceasefire, the militants have released seven hostages in exchange for more than 300 prisoners, including many serving life sentences for deadly attacks on Israelis.

The second – and much more difficult – phase of the deal has yet to be negotiated. Hamas says it will not release the remaining 60 or so hostages unless Israel ends the war, while Netanyahu says he remains committed to destroying the militant group and ending it its nearly 18-year rule over Gaza.

___

Magdy reported from Cairo and Krauss from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

___

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war