Israel began allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return on Monday to the heavily destroyed northern Gaza Strip for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas.
The U.N. said over 200,000 people were observed moving north in Gaza on Monday morning alone, in accordance with a fragile ceasefire.
“It’s the joy of return,” said Ismail Abu Mattar, a father of four. He said people were singing, praying and crying as they reunited with relatives.
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 militants’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, which triggered the fighting. Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are also set to be freed in the exchange.
Israel said Monday that a Hamas list shows eight of the 33 hostages to be released in the ceasefire’s first phase are dead. Israel has said the next release of hostages will take place on Thursday, followed by another on Saturday.
In Jerusalem, Palestinian Islamic Jihad published a video of an Israeli hostage in Gaza who is expected to be released on Thursday, one of the disagreements that had strained the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
In the video, likely filmed under duress, Arbel Yehoud, 29, who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, 2023, is seen giving a statement on what she said is Saturday, Jan. 25. She refers to recent events including addressing Donald Trump as president and the prior release of Israeli hostages during the past week.
Israel delayed the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza for two days because they accused Hamas of violating the terms of the ceasefire agreement by not releasing Yehoud, a civilian, on Saturday. Palestinians began returning to the north on Monday morning after negotiations.
Yehoud is expected to be released on Thursday along with the soldier Agam Berger and another yet-unnamed hostage. An additional three hostages will be released on Saturday. In return, Israel will release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees from Gaza.
Hamas kidnapped around 250 people on Oct. 7, 2023 during their cross-border attack on southern Israel. Around 90 hostages remain in Gaza, at least a third of whom Israel believes are no longer alive.
Meanwhile, the European Union’s foreign ministers have agreed to redeploy a civilian monitoring mission to the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, the EU foreign policy chief says.
Kaja Kallas said in an X post Monday that the redeployment to the crossing — Gaza’s main gateway to the outside world — will “allow a number of injured individuals to leave Gaza and receive medical care.”
The mission said in a statement its redeployment “in the coming days” comes at the request of Israel and the Palestinians, with Egypt’s agreement.
It said the deployment of a specialized team will continue through the six-week first phase of the Gaza ceasefire, which has begun its second week.
“During this period it is expected that at least several hundred persons will leave Gaza,” the EU mission said.
Israel calls for release of remaining hostages
Israel’s president is calling on all nations and all people “who consider themselves part of the civilized world” to use their influence to free the remaining hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
Isaac Herzog made the appeal Monday at the U.N.’s annual commemoration of the international day in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, this year marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp at the end of World War II.
He noted that among those kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, during its attack in southern Israel was Israeli-American soldier Omer Nutra, whose great-grandfather was a Holocaust survivor and whose parents attended the commemoration in the vast U.N. General Assembly hall. In December, the Israeli military acknowledged Omer was killed on Oct. 7, but his body has not been recovered.
Herzog sharply criticized the United Nations, which was established in the wake of World War II to prevent future genocides, for “manipulating the definition of genocide for the sole purpose of attacking Israel and the Jewish people.” South Africa has submitted a legal claim to the U.N.’s top court, the International Court of Justice, accusing Israel of committing genocide during its war against Hamas in Gaza in response to Oct. 7.
The Israeli president said the world has seen “a huge volcano of antisemitism erupt” since the Oct. 7 massacre, which saw about 1,200 people killed and some 250 taken hostage.
“This is an urgent wake-up call to all humanity,” Herzog said. “Antisemitism, savagery, cruelty and racism are still thriving on our planet.”
He said this is happening because far too many of the 193 U.N. member nations don’t fight against these human rights violations.
Herzog said Israel has forged alliances that have transformed the Middle East. “And I pray for the day we will achieve peace with more and more nations in our region, and that all peoples of the Middle East, Israelis, Palestinians, and all others, will live peacefully side by side,” he said.
AP
