• Tens of thousands, many holding infants in their arms, trek to enclave’s north on foot
• Israeli air strike kills two Palestinians in West Bank

CAIRO: Tens of thousands of Palestinians streamed along the main roads leading north in Gaza on Monday, jubilant to be returning home after months of living in temporary shelter but fearing what might remain of their homes amid the bombed-out ruins.

Their return, which had been delayed at the weekend, went ahead after Hamas agreed to hand over three Israeli prisoners later this week and Israeli forces began to withdraw from a main corridor across the enclave under the terms of an agreement on a ceasefire in the 15-month-long war.

Along a road running by Gaza’s Mediterranean shore, a mass of people, some holding infants in their arms or carrying bundles of belongings on their shoulders, trekked north on foot.

“It’s like I was born again and we were victorious again,” said a Palestinian mother, Umm Mohammed Ali, part of the miles-long throng that moved slowly up the coastal road.

Witnesses said the first residents arrived in Gaza City in the early morning after the first crossing point in central Gaza opened at 7am (05:00 GMT or 10:00 PKT). Another crossing opened around three hours later, letting in vehicles.

“My heart is beating, I thought I would never come back,” said Osama, 50, a public servant and father of five, as he arrived in Gaza City.

“Whether the ceasefire succeeds or not, we will never leave Gaza City and the north again, even if Israel would send a tank for each one of us, no more displacement.”

Having been repeatedly displaced over 15 months of war, cheers erupted at shelters and tent encampments when families heard news that the crossings would be opened.

“No sleep, I have everything packed and ready to go with the first light of day,” said Ghada, a mother of five. “At least we are going back home, now I can say war is over and I hope it will stay calm,” she told Reuters via a chat app.

Children in warm jackets and carrying backpacks walked hand in hand, men pushed the elderly in wheelchairs and families posed for photos as Hamas-hired officials in red vests directed them along the road.

Destruction

Around 650,000 Palestinians were displaced from northern Gaza during the war.

Many of those displaced have had to move several times as Israel designated parts of Gaza as humanitarian zones and then cleared them out before mounting bombardments and ground operations there. Much of Gaza now lies in ruins.

The Gaza government media office said returnees to the north need at least 135,000 tents and shelters as they try to reestablish their lives in the rubble-strewn landscape of their former homes.

On Monday, a Hamas official told Reuters the group had handed over to mediators a list that showed that 25 of 33 prisoners scheduled for release in the first phase are alive. The figure of 25 included the seven prisoners released since the truce began on Jan 19.

Israel has confirmed the Hamas figures in the list — 25 are alive but eight were killed, an Israeli government spokesman said. The identities of who was dead and who was alive was not immediately confirmed, keeping families in a state of hope and dread.

Israeli air strike

Meanwhile, an Israeli air strike killed two Palestinians in the city of Tulkarm, West Bank, on Monday. Hamas said the two killed were members of its armed wing. Witnesses in the city said a raid was underway.

The Palestinian health ministry confirmed that two people had been killed, without identifying them.

In Jenin, further north, a major operation with hundreds of Israeli troops backed by armoured vehicles, drones and helicopters, looked set to go into a second week, with smoke rising above the refugee camp adjacent to the city.

Armoured bulldozers and diggers have destroyed buildings and roads in the camp, a crowded township built for descendants of Palestinians who fled or were forced from their homes in the 1948 war around the creation of the state of Israel, and thousands of people have left their homes.

At least 16 Palestinians have been killed in Jenin and surrounding areas since the start of the operation a week ago, including four claimed as fighters by Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2025