Thousands of Palestinians begin returning home to a devastated Gaza
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Israeli forces on Monday morning opened the Netzarim corridor that separates north and south Gaza, with crowds in the thousands streaming back to their abandoned homes in the north.
The scenes of massive crowds of people returning to Gaza on foot came as the U.S. and Qatar helped preserve two ceasefire agreements — between Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon — that both risked collapse over the weekend.
In Gaza, a dispute over Hamas' return of a specific hostage had led to the Israeli military blocking the return of Palestinian residents to the north of Gaza.
In Lebanon, the Israeli military had fired on protesters who had sought to return to villages in the south of the country, from where Israeli forces were supposed to have evacuated by Sunday.
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The disagreements between Israel and militant groups it has fought for decades highlighted the low levels of trust between the recently warring parties. But last-ditch negotiations involving officials in the Qatari capital Doha, Washington D.C., and elsewhere have managed to keep the ceasefire deals alive, according to President Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff.
"There was a crisis," said Witkoff in comments to reporters in New York Sunday night, "and we managed to overcome it with good dialogue and conversation. This is a sign that we all need to stay positive." He praised Qatar's prime minister as well as the Israeli government for helping resolve the respective disputes.
Over the weekend, Israeli leaders had made the return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza contingent on the immediate release of an Israeli female civilian, Arbel Yehud, arguing that the ceasefire agreement had stipulated that civilian women should be returned before female soldiers — four of whom were released Saturday.
The resolution came after Qatar announced it had helped broker the compromise, and the Qatari foreign ministry, which had helped mediate the overarching ceasefire agreed two weeks ago, said Hamas would hand over three hostages before Friday.
According to a statement from the Israeli Prime Minister's Office, three hostages held by Hamas since Oct. 7, 2023, will now be released Thursday — slightly ahead of the previously agreed-upon release day for a further three hostages.
They will include Yehud, a civilian who had become the center of dispute this weekend after Hamas officials had insisted she was in fact an Israeli soldier and so would not be prioritized for release with other civilian women and children. Also slated for release Thursday is Agam Berger, a female soldier. The identity of the third hostage to be released was not made public.
A Qatari foreign ministry statement said Hamas would also provide information on the condition of the remaining 26 Israeli hostages to be released in the first six-week phase of the deal.
Meanwhile in southern Lebanon, a 60-day ceasefire agreement that the U.S. helped broker in November, which temporarily ended fighting between the Israeli military and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, had expired on Sunday.
Israeli troops had opened fire Sunday on protesters who tried to get past them to remote villages in southern Lebanon that the Israeli troops had not yet evacuated, despite assurances in the ceasefire deal that they would do so. Lebanon's health ministry said 22 people were killed and 124 injured during the shooting.
The U.S. has been helping to monitor the Lebanon ceasefire, and a statement from the White House said the agreement's terms had now been extended until Feb. 18. This will provide more time for Israeli units to make way for Lebanese Army troops who are advancing to replace them, and to withdraw beyond the existing border between the two countries.
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