The National Times - Thousands of Palestinians return to north Gaza after hostage breakthrough

The Israeli government said on Monday that eight of the hostages held in Gaza who were due for release in the truce's first phase are dead.

The fragile ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas is intended to bring an end to more than 15 months of war that began with Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

Israel had prevented Palestinians from returning to northern Gaza, accusing Hamas of violating the terms of the truce, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said late Sunday they would be allowed to pass after a new agreement was reached.

Hamas had said blocking the returns amounted to a truce violation.

Large crowds of people moved through the now-open Netzarim Corridor into the north, watched over by Israeli tanks. Some pulled carts weighed down with mattresses and other essentials. Others carried what belongings they could.

Late Monday, the Hamas government in Gaza said "more than 300,000 displaced" had returned during the day "to the governorates of the north", an area of Gaza severely battered by the war.

After reaching the area, men embraced each other.

"Welcome to Gaza," read a newly erected banner hanging above a dirt road in front of a collapsed building in Gaza City.

"This is the happiest day of my life," said Lamees al-Iwady, a 22-year-old who returned to Gaza City after being displaced several times.

"I feel as though my soul and life have returned to me," she said. "We will rebuild our homes, even if it's with mud and sand."

With the joy of return came shock at the extent of destruction wrought by more than a year of war.

According to the Hamas-run government's media office, 135,000 tents and caravans are needed in Gaza City and the north to shelter returning families.

Still, Hamas called the return "a victory" for Palestinians that "signals the failure and defeat of the plans for occupation and displacement".

The comments came after US President Donald Trump floated an idea to "clean out" Gaza and resettle Palestinians in Jordan and Egypt, drawing condemnation from regional leaders.

President Mahmud Abbas, whose Palestinian Authority is based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, issued a "strong rejection and condemnation of any projects" aimed at displacing Palestinians from Gaza, his office said.

- Dark memories -

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One on Monday, Trump reiterated his desire to move Palestinians from Gaza, which he described as "hell for so many years", to "safer" locations such as Egypt or Jordan.

"I wish he would take some (Palestinians)," Trump said of Egypt's president, adding, "I think the king of Jordan would do it too".

For Palestinians, any attempts to force them from Gaza would evoke dark memories of what the Arab world calls the "Nakba", or catastrophe -- the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel's creation in 1948.

"We say to Trump and the whole world: we will not leave Palestine or Gaza, no matter what happens," said displaced Gazan Rashad al-Naji.

Moving Gaza's 2.4 million people could be done "temporarily or could be long term", Trump said on Saturday.

Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called Trump's suggestion "a great idea".

The Arab League warned against "attempts to uproot the Palestinian people from their land", and Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi issued a "firm" rejection of Palestinian displacement.

"Jordan is for Jordanians and Palestine is for Palestinians," Safadi said.

Egypt's foreign ministry said it rejected any infringement of Palestinians' "inalienable rights".

- Visibly distraught -

Israel had said it would prevent Palestinians' passage to the north until the release of Arbel Yehud, a civilian woman hostage who it maintained should have been freed on Saturday.

But Netanyahu's office later said a deal had been reached for the release of three hostages on Thursday, including Yehud, as well as another three on Saturday.

Hamas confirmed the agreement in its own statement Monday.

Later, another Gaza militant group, Islamic Jihad, released video footage of a visibly distressed Yehud.

She called on Netanyahu to do everything in his power to secure the release of the remaining hostages.

In southern Gaza, the European Union agreed on Monday to restart a monitoring mission at the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt. Italy said the main aim "is to coordinate and facilitate the daily transit of up to 300 wounded and sick".

During the first phase of the truce, which began on January 19, 33 hostages are supposed to be freed in staggered releases over six weeks in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

The second such swap, on Saturday, saw four Israeli women hostages, all soldiers, exchanged for 200 prisoners, all Palestinians except for one Jordanian.

On Monday, Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said eight of the hostages due for release in the first phase are dead.

"The families have been informed of the situation of their relatives," he said, without disclosing their names.

Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack, 87 remain in Gaza, including 34 Israel says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 47,317 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

burs-ser/tym/lb

M.Wilson--TNT