Thousands of people return for the first time in more than a year north of Gaza
Thousands of people have started early this Monday to cross, for the first time in months, in the north of the Gaza Strip after an agreement between Hamas and Israel was reached within the high fire that collects an exchange of hostages by prisoners not foreseen in the initial entente of the truce. After hours stranded on the road that travels parallel to the Mediterranean coast, the one known as Rashid Street, because in principle it was expected that they could return to their homes since Sunday, the Israeli occupation troops have allowed the passage to the Gazaties in the direction to the northern towns of the enclave, such as Ciudad de Gaza, Jabalia, Beit Lahia or Beit Hanun. They also do it from the road that is parallel to the separation fence between Gaza and Israel, the so -called Salahadin street.
Hundreds of thousands of people left that area pushed by the Israel Army in the first weeks of the war that began in October 2023. Now, when they returned, what are in many occasions are their destroyed homes, so that, to the As they have done in the south, many believe they must accommodate, even in their places of origin, in makeshift camps.
The extraordinary exchange will take place this Thursday, as announced by the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamín Netanyahu, and will benefit three hostages. At least two of them with women, adds the statement of the government head office. This is Arbel Yehud and soldier Agam Berger, whose four military companions returned to Israel during the weekend after being released by Hamas.
Two days later, on Saturday, February 1, the normal rhythm of the releases planned from the beginning in the terms of the fire, which set the release of 33 of the captives in a first phase of the high El Alto el El Alto fire for six weeks. In all cases, the departure of hostages will be accompanied by the release of dozens of Palestinian prisoners of Israeli prisons.
Netanyahu sells Thursday’s exchange agreement as a “back” of the Palestinian Islamist movement after what the Jewish state considers a prior breach of what is agreed, since Israel considers that Yehud should have been released in advance. In parallel, Israel has announced that it has received from Hamas a list that includes the State – if they are alive or dead, essentially – of all the hostages that must be released in the first phase.
