The return of the Palestinians to the rubble and the landing of American forces in Israel while the ceasefire holds – National

Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians returned to their neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, walking through dust-covered streets as bulldozers made their way through… The wreckage of two years of conflict And a The ceasefire is on its second day.

“Gaza is completely destroyed. I have no idea where we should live or where to go,” Mahmoud Al-Shandoghli said as he walked in Gaza City. A child climbs a collapsed building to raise the Palestinian flag.

About 200 American soldiers arrived in Israel to monitor the ceasefire with Hamas.

They will create a center to facilitate The flow of humanitarian aid As well as logistical and security assistance.

The head of the US military’s Central Command said he visited Gaza on Saturday to prepare for this.

Admiral Brad Cooper said in a statement: “This major effort will be accomplished without American forces on the ground in Gaza.”

An Egyptian official said that US envoy Steve Witkoff met with senior American and Israeli military officials in Gaza on Saturday, and that Witkoff confirmed the implementation of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists.

Tons of much needed food

Aid groups have urged Israel to reopen more crossings to allow aid into Gaza. A UN official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss details that have not yet been announced, said that Israel had agreed to expand the scope of aid distribution, starting on Sunday.

The World Food Program said it was ready to restore 145 food distribution points across the country Famine-stricken territories, as soon as Israel allows the expansion of handovers. Before Israel closed the Gaza Strip in March, UN agencies provided food at 400 distribution points.

Although the timeline and how food will enter Gaza remain unclear, the distribution points will allow Palestinians to access food in more locations than they can through the US-Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has operated four sites since taking over distribution in late May.

The Coordination Committee for Government Activities in the Territories, the Israeli military body responsible for humanitarian aid, said more than 500 trucks entered Gaza on Friday, although many crossings remained closed.

About 170,000 metric tons of food aid has been placed in neighboring countries awaiting permission from Israel to resume deliveries.

Israel is preparing for the return of the hostages

The Israeli military said the 48 hostages still in Gaza would be released on Monday. The government believes that about 20 of them are still alive. They were among about 250 hostages taken by Hamas on October 7, 2023. Attack on Israel.

“There were several nights when we could not sleep,” Maayan Eliasi, a Tel Aviv resident, said during a gathering in the city’s Hostage Square. “We want them back and we feel like everything is hanging on a thread.”

Israel is scheduled to release about 250 people Palestinians serving prison sentencesIn addition to about 1,700 people who were captured from Gaza during the past two years and detained without charges. The Israeli Prison Service announced today, Saturday, that the prisoners were transferred to the deportation centers in Ofer and Ketsiot prisons, “awaiting instructions from the political level.”

Questions about the future of Gaza

Questions remain about who will do it Gaza is governed after the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces And whether Hamas will disarm, as the ceasefire agreement calls for.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who unilaterally ended the previous ceasefire in March, suggested that Israel could resume its offensive if Hamas fails to disarm.

“If it is achieved the easy way, so be it. If not, it will be achieved the hard way,” Netanyahu said on Friday, pledging that the next stage would lead to the disarmament of Hamas.

The extent of the destruction that will befall Gaza will become clearer if the truce holds. The United Nations said in September that more than three out of every four buildings had been destroyed, a volume of debris equivalent to 25 Eiffel Towers, much of it potentially toxic.

An assessment by the European Union and the World Bank in February estimated $49 billion in damage, including $16 billion to housing and $6.3 billion to the health sector.

The death toll is expected to rise as more bodies are found that were not recovered during the Israeli attack.

The director of Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza told the Associated Press that 45 bodies recovered from under the rubble in Gaza City arrived during the past 24 hours. The director, who spoke on condition of anonymity for safety reasons, said the bodies had been missing for several days to two weeks.

New security arrangements

US President Donald Trump The initial 20-point plan It calls on Israel to maintain an open military presence inside Gaza, along its border with Israel. The international force, largely composed of forces from Arab and Muslim countries, will be responsible for security inside Gaza, although the timeline is unclear.

The Israeli army said that it will continue to operate defensively from about 50% of the Gaza Strip, which it still controls after the withdrawal to the agreed upon lines.

Witkoff told Israeli officials on Friday that the United States would establish a center in Israel to coordinate issues related to Gaza until there is a permanent government, according to a readout of the meeting by a person who attended it and obtained by the Associated Press. Another official who was not authorized to speak to the media confirmed the content of the reading.

The statement said that there will not be any American soldiers on the ground in Gaza, but there will be people who report to the United States and aircraft may operate over the Strip to monitor.

In the ensuing Israeli offensive against the October 7 actions, Israel killed more than 67,000 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded nearly 170,000, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. They say about half of the deaths were women and children. The ministry forms part of the Hamas-run government, and its figures are considered by the United Nations and many independent experts to be the most reliable estimate of casualties in the war.

The conflict has also sparked other conflicts in the region, sparked protests around the world and exacerbated the conflict Genocide allegations This is something Israel denies.

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