Israel is allowing Palestinians to return to northern Gaza for the first time in more than a year as it clings to a ceasefire

Israel began allowing thousands of Palestinians to return to the heavily damaged northern Gaza Strip on Monday for the first time in weeks. 15-month war with Hamasin accordance with a fragile truce.

The opening was delayed for two days due to a dispute between Hamas and Israel, which said the militant group had changed its order on the hostages it had released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Mediators settled the dispute overnight.

Separately, Israeli forces in southern Lebanon on Sunday opened fire on the protesters Demanding their withdrawal under a truce agreement, killing at least 22 and injuring 124, Lebanese health officials said.

Hours later, the White House said Israel and Lebanon had agreed to extend the deadline for Israeli troops to leave South Lebanon until February 18, after Israel asked for more time to withdraw beyond the 60-day deadline stipulated in the truce agreement that stopped the Israel-Hezbollah war at the end of November.

Israel said it needed to stay longer because the Lebanese army had not deployed to all areas of South Lebanon to ensure that Hezbollah did not re-establish its presence in the area. The Lebanese army said it could not deploy until Israeli forces withdrew.

Palestinians who have been sheltering in tent camps and school-turned-schools for more than a year are eager to return to their homes—even knowing they are likely to be damaged or destroyed. Many feared Israel would make their exodus permanent and expressed similar concerns about the idea floated by President Trump to resettle large numbers of Palestinians in Egypt and Jordan.

Ismail Abu Matter, a father of four who waited 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 returning,” said Abu Matter, whose family was among the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled or were expelled from what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding its creation. “We thought we wouldn’t come back, like our ancestors.”

Hamas called the return “a victory for our people, and a declaration of failure and defeat for the (Israeli) occupation and transfer plans.”

The truce 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 held in Militant attack on October 7, 2023.which started the fight.

Israel ordered the evacuation of the cost of the north in the early days of the war and sealed it soon after it moved ground troops. About a million people fled south in October 2023, while hundreds of thousands remained in the north, which saw some of the heaviest fighting and destruction of the war.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel would continue to enforce the cease-fire and that anyone who violates it or threatens Israeli forces “will bear the full cost.”

“We will not allow a return to reality on October 7,” he wrote on the X platform.

Israel delayed the opening of the crossing, which was due to take place over the weekend, saying it would not allow Palestinians into the North until a female civilian hostage, Arbel Yehoud, was released. He also accused Hamas of not providing information on whether the remaining hostages were released in the first phase alive or dead.

Hamas in turn accused Israel of violating the agreement by not opening the crossing.

The Gulf of Qatar, a key mediator with Hamas, announced early Monday that an agreement had been reached to release Yehoud along with two other hostages before Friday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that the release of the hostages – which will include female soldier Agam Berger – will take place on Thursday. That release will be in addition to the one already set for next Saturday, when the three tracks should be released.

Hamas also submitted a list of required information on the hostages to be released in the first phase of the ceasefire.

Beginning at 7 a.m., Palestinians were allowed to cross on foot without inspection through the so-called Netzarim Corridor, a military zone dividing the territory south of Gaza City that Israel carved out at the start of the war. The vehicle checkpoint is scheduled to open later with an inspection mechanism, details of which were not immediately known.

In the first phase of the truce, which lasts until early March, Hamas will release a total of 33 hostages in exchange for the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Militants announced seven hostages, Including four female soldiers early Saturdayin the current truce, in exchange for more than 300 prisoners, including many serving life sentences for deadly attacks on Israelis.

The second – and far more difficult – phase of the agreement has not yet been negotiated. Hamas says it will not release the remaining 60 hostages unless Israel ends the war, while Netanyahu says he remains committed to destroying the militant group and ending its nearly 18-year rule over Gaza.

Hamas started the war when thousands of its fighters swept into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping another 250. About 90 hostages are still inside Gaza, and Israel believes about a third are dead. .

Israel’s air and ground war has killed over 47,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. It does not say how many dead fighters there were. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

Israeli bombing and ground operations have displaced about 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, often multiple times, and flattened entire neighborhoods.