Tens of thousands of Palestinians flocked along the main roads leading to the north in Gaza on Monday, where it returns after months of living in a temporary shelter, but they are afraid of what may remain from their homes in the ruins of the bombing.
Their return, which was delayed at the weekend, has advanced after Hamas agreed to hand over three Israeli hostages later this week, and the Israeli forces began to withdraw from a major corridor through the pocket under the terms of agreement on one of the launch in 15 long war.
Along a road running on the shore of the Mediterranean in Gaza, a group of people, some of them carry children in their arms or carry packages of their possessions on their shoulders, and they wandered on foot.
“It seems as if I was again and we were victorious again,” said a Palestinian mother, Umm Muhammad Ali, who was part of a kilometer crowd, who was slowly moving to the coastal road.
“This is a wonderful day, an incredible day … a day we dreamed of for 15 months,” Mohamed Al -Tazali told CBC News Freelance Mohamde El Saify in the same area.
Thousands of Palestinians together gathered to move north through the Gaza Strip on Monday after the Israeli army opened a major corridor. This step, which comes during the temporary ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, has sparked hope even, just as many admit that they will return to “destruction and destruction.”
Witnesses said that the first population arrived in Gaza City early in the morning, after the opening of the first transit point in the center of Gaza at 7:00 am local time (12 am in the evening). Another crossing was opened after about three hours, and allowing cars.
“My heart beats, I thought I would never return,” said Osama, 50, a government employee and a father for five years, when he arrived in Gaza City.
“Whether the ceasefire succeeded or not, we will never leave Gaza City and the north again, even if Israel has sent a reservoir to each of us. No more displacement.”
After it has been repeatedly and repeatedly for 15 months of war, slogans erupted in shelters and tents camps when families heard news that the crossings would be opened.
“I have no sleep. I have everything packed and ready to go with the first day of the day,” said Gada, a five -year -old mother.
“At least we will go home, and now I can say that the war has ended and I hope it remains calm,” she told Reuters on the chat application.
Children wearing warm jackets and backpacks went side by side, while men prompted the elderly to the wheelchairs and the families that were presented to the photos while Hamas officials in red jackets directed them all the way.
The displaced Palestinians return to the destroyed cities in northern Gaza after the Israeli army opened a corridor on Monday morning for vehicles and people, and many of them carry their property on their backs.
About 650,000 Palestinians were displaced from the north
About 650,000 Palestinians were displaced from northern Gaza during the war, which caused Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, where 1,200 people and 251 hostages were killed, according to Israeli Tallies.
Since then, more than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli attack on Gaza, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
As the weak ceasefire stopped and the extent of destruction and loss in Gaza begins to appear, Ashraf Zakot and his daughter Islam returned to what their house was in his shelf to search for the body of Ibn Makdaz.
Many of the displaced had to move several times, as Israel identified parts of Gaza as humanitarian areas and then cleared them before the bombing and ground operations escalated there.
Many Gaza is now in the rubble. Hamas’s government media office said that the returnees to the north need at least 135,000 tents and shelters because they are trying to re -establish their lives in the scene full of passengers in their previous homes.
But some Palestinians who return to the north, from central Gaza, are still hoping to rebuild the coastal pocket.
“We will rebuild Gaza. Gaza will be rebuilt by its people,” Mahmoud Radi told CBC News on Monday. “We will return to the road before, but better.”
Ahmed Shakura said he had not seen joy on people since the beginning of the 15 -month war.
“Yes, we go back to destruction and destruction, but our land is still, where we were born, where we grew up,” he told CBC News.
The required mediation after a hostage dispute
Under the conditions of the ceasefire agreement, the population of the north of Gaza was to return to the weekend. But Israel said that Hamas had broken the deal by failing to release a female hostage of the civilian Jews and kept its forces in the Netzarim corridor, which is intersecting through the pocket south of Gaza City.
Late on Sunday, Qatari mediators resolved the conflict after Hamas agreed to release Jehud, along with the soldier Ajam Berger and another hostage on Thursday, two days before the next three -holding edition on Saturday. Then Israel gave the green light to return to North Gaza on Monday morning.
Hamas also presented a list of all hostages that will be issued during the first stage of six weeks of the ceasefire agreement, with their condition clarified.
On Monday, Hamas official told Reuters that the group handed the brokers a list that showed that 25 of 33 hostages were scheduled to release in the first stage alive. The number 25 included the seven hostages that were released since the truce began on January 19.
Israel confirmed that Hamas numbers are in the list – 25 alive, but eight were killed by Hamas, a spokesman for the Israeli government said.
The identities of those who died and who were alive were not confirmed immediately, keeping families in a state of hope and dread.
Security checks
Hamas and ordinary invasion officials rejected a proposal from US President Donald Trump that Jordan and Egypt should take the Palestinians from the pocket of war, which led to the revival of long Palestinian concerns about leading them permanently from their homes.
Trump’s critics said this would reach “ethnic cleansing”.
According to the ceasefire, only non -armed persons will be allowed to return to the north. The Israeli army warned Ghazan against carrying weapons with them or approaching the Israeli forces anywhere.
The proposal of US President Donald Trump that it may be better to “clean” Gaza with anger from many Palestinians who want to return to their homes despite the destruction of the Hamas Israel war.
Residents crossing the north said that Egyptian security personnel were overseeing the return of the Palestinians in vehicles along the Salah al -Din Road, which is the main road that runs north to the south, with Hamas police officers closed.
Mustafa Ibrahim said: “At the intersection of Netzarim, members of the Egyptian army are honored by the X -ray machine for the car as they deal with the returnees in a loving manner … The entire process took a few minutes.”
A spokesman for the Israeli government said that the American Private Security Company will also participate in the checks.
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