al jazeera

By Alastair McCready, Urooba Jamal and Umut Uras
    Tens of thousands of forcibly displaced Palestinians are returning to devastated towns and cities in northern Gaza as the Israeli military ceases fire and partially withdraws from the territory under the first phase of a peace deal with Hamas.
    US President Donald Trump said Israeli captives held in Gaza are due for release on Monday.
   Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) have said they reject “any foreign guardianship” of the Gaza Strip. Gaza officials have called for an independent, international investigation into war crimes and genocide during Israel’s war on the enclave.
   UNRWA has called for all crossings into Gaza to be opened, saying that there are 6,000 aid trucks ready to reach Gaza in hours.
   Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 67,211 people and wounded 169,961 since October 2023. A total of 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7, 2023, attacks and about 200 were taken captive.

Israeli army blocks ambulance from reaching wounded man in West Bank

    Earlier, we reported that Israeli forces shot a Palestinian man during a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Dura in Hebron governorate.

    Wafa news agency now reports that Israeli forces wounded the man in the thigh before preventing ambulances from reaching him for an hour. The man’s injuries have been described as “moderate”.

    Israeli forces arrested another Palestinian man after raiding his family’s home in Dura. Three others were detained by the army in the nearby town of Bani Naim, one man in the city of Hebron, and one man in the town of Taffuh, west of Hebron.

Palestinians once again traverse al-Rashid Street as they return to northern Gaza

    Gaza’s al-Rashid Street has been the scene of huge movements north and south over recent months, as Palestinians have repeatedly been forced to flee Israeli attacks.

    Now, as the ceasefire takes hold and Israeli forces have withdrawn from the Netzarim Corridor, which cut the road in two, tens of thousands of Palestinians are returning to the north – this time they hope permanently.

    “Once again [displaced Palestinians] are taking the same exact road, the only lifeline for Palestinians now to go back to their homes in Gaza and the northern part [of the enclave],” says Al Jazeera correspondent Hani Mahmoud, reporting from the coastal highway in central Gaza.

    He adds that the vital highway has largely been destroyed by Israeli bulldozers, making it hard to traverse for those carrying all of their possessions with them.

Palestinians returning to homeland speak of their experiences

    Al Jazeera has spoken to Palestinians returning to the north of the Strip from Nuseirat camp in central Gaza:

    Ahmed Abu Shanab – “We returned from the south to the north. The journey was very difficult, we suffered a lot, we did not have enough space and we literally could not sleep.”

    Maryam Abu Jabal – “We returned to the unknown, and we don’t know if our homes still exist. We hope to God that our home is still standing.”

    Mohammed Sharaf – “Everything has changed, we have returned to a disaster that we cannot comprehend, we don’t know what to do now. We thought we would leave for a few days, now we’re back and we have found nothing.”