Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are streaming into devastated northern Gaza – many for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war – allowing them to reunite with loved ones and see what has become of their homes.
A column of people, some holding infants in their arms or carrying bundles of belongings on their shoulders, headed north on foot, along a road running by the shores of the eastern Mediterranean. More than 200,000 displaced people returned to north Gaza on foot in the two hours after the crossing opened, according to a Gaza security official speaking to the AFP news agency.
Many will return home to find their homes flattened by intense Israeli bombardment, but that did not extinguish the sense of joy at finally being allowed to return.
“It’s like I was born again,” said Palestinian mother Umm Mohammed Ali, part of the miles-long crowd that moved slowly along the coastal road.
“My heart is beating, I thought I would never come back,” Osama, 50, a public servant and father of five said as he arrived in Gaza City, the largest city in the north. “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.”
The opening of the Netzarim corridor that separates northern Gaza from the rest of the enclave, which was due under the terms of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, was delayed for two days after Israel said that Hamas had broken the deal by failing to release civilian female hostage Arbel Yehud. Late on Sunday, mediator Qatar said Hamas agreed to hand over three Israeli hostages before Friday and Israel started to withdraw its forces from the corridor. Having been repeatedly displaced over 15 months of the war, cheers erupted at shelters and tent encampments when families heard the news that the crossings would be opened.
The ceasefire is aimed at winding down the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and Hamas and securing the release of dozens of hostages captured in the Hamas attack inside Israel on 7 October 2023 that triggered the conflict. Some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in that attack, with another 250 taken hostage. Israel responded with an air and ground war that has killed more 47,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza health officials.
Under the first phase of the ceasefire, Hamas is to free a total of 33 hostages in exchange for the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. So far under the truce, Hamas has released seven hostages in exchange for more than 300 prisoners, including many serving life sentences for deadly attacks on Israelis. On Monday afternoon, Israel said a Hamas list showed that eight of the 33 hostages to be released in the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire are dead.
Government spokesperson David Mencer said that Hamas said the other 25 are alive. Israel overnight said it had received a list of information on the status of the hostages from Hamas. Israel has said the next release of hostages will take place on Thursday, followed by another on Saturday.
The second – and far more difficult – phase of the ceasefire agreement has not yet been negotiated. Hamas says it will not release the remaining 60 or so hostages – many of whom are believed to be dead – unless Israel ends the war, while Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he is still committed to destroying the militant group.
Back in Gaza, Yasmin Abu Amshah, a mother of three, said she walked around four miles (6km) to reach 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 trip, but a happy one,” she said. “The most important thing is that we returned.”
In the opening days of the war, Israel ordered the wholesale evacuation of the north and sealed it off shortly after ground troops moved in.
Around a million people fled to the south in October 2023, while hundreds of thousands remained in the north, which had some of the heaviest fighting and the worst destruction of the war. In all, around 90 per cent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced.
Starting at 7am local time, Palestinians were allowed to cross on foot. A checkpoint for vehicles opened a few hours later. Under the ceasefire agreement, vehicles are to be inspected for weapons before entering the north, meaning it could take days to clear the queue of thousands of cars that has formed.
Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said Israel would continue to enforce the ceasefire, and that anyone violating it or threatening Israeli forces “will bear the full cost”.
“We will not allow a return to the reality of 7 October,” he wrote on the social media platform X.
Ismail Abu Matter, a father of four who had waited for three days before crossing with his family, described scenes of jubilation on the other side, with people singing, praying and crying as they were reunited with relatives.
“It’s the joy of return,” said Abu Matter, whose family was among the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled or were driven out of what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding its creation. “We had thought we wouldn’t return, like our ancestors.”
Hamas said the return was “a victory for our people and a declaration of failure and defeat for the [Israeli] occupation and transfer plans”.
The opening of the corridor to allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza followed remarks by US president Donald Trump that he would like to “clean out” Gaza and move the Palestinians into neighbouring Egypt or Jordan, which is already home to around two million Palestinian refugees.
“I’d like Egypt to take people,” Mr Trump said in a Saturday meeting with reporters. “You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, ‘You know, it’s over.’”
The comments drew wide criticism from Arab nations, including both Egypt and Jordan, who said they would reject any proposals to relocate Palestinian civilians.
Others saw it as a departure from the two-state Israel and Palestine solution traditionally backed by the US.
Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report
