DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (news agencies) — Israel kept thousands of Palestinians from returning to their homes in northern Gaza Strip on Sunday as it accused Hamas of violating a fragile ceasefire by changing the order of hostages it has released. Local health officials said Israeli forces fired on the crowds, killing two people and wounding nine.
In a separate development, U.S. President Donald Trump suggested Saturday that most of Gaza’s population should be at least temporarily resettled elsewhere, including in Egypt and Jordan, in order to “just clean out” the war-ravaged enclave.
Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinians themselves have previously rejected such a scenario, fearing Israel might never allow the refugees to return.
Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas official, said Palestinians would never accept such a proposal, “even if seemingly well-intentioned under the guise of reconstruction.” He said the Palestinians can rebuild Gaza “even better than before” if Israel lifts its blockade.
Under the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, Israel on Saturday was to begin allowing Palestinians to return to their homes in northern Gaza on foot through the so-called Netzarim corridor bisecting Gaza. Israel put the move on hold until Hamas frees a hostage who Israel said was supposed to have been released Saturday. Hamas in turn accused Israel of violating the agreement.
Crowds of people traveling by foot and carrying their belongings crowded a main road leading to a closed Israeli checkpoint. “We have been in agony for a year and a half,” Nadia Qasem, a woman displaced from the north said as she waited. “Since 1 a.m. we have been waiting to return.”
Fadi al-Sinwar, who was also displaced from Gaza City, said, “the fate of more than a million people is linked to one person,” referring to the Israeli hostage.
“See how valuable we are? We are worthless,” he said.
Israeli forces fired on the crowds on three occasions overnight and into Sunday, killing two people and wounding nine, including a child, according to Al-Awda Hospital, which received the casualties.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Israel has pulled back from several areas of Gaza as part of the ceasefire, which came into force last Sunday, but the military has warned people to stay away from its forces, which are still operating in a buffer zone inside Gaza along the border and in the Netzarim corridor.
Hamas freed four young female Israeli soldiers on Saturday, and Israel released some 200 Palestinian prisoners, most of whom were serving life sentences after being convicted of deadly attacks.
But Israel said another hostage, the female civilian Arbel Yehoud, was supposed to have been released ahead of the soldiers, and that it would not open the Netzarim corridor until she was freed. It also accused Hamas of failing to provide details on the conditions of hostages set to be freed in the coming weeks.
Hamas accused Israel of using the issue as a pretext to delay the return of Palestinians to their homes. In a statement, the militant group said it had informed mediators that Yehoud was alive and provided guarantees that she would be released.
The United States, Egypt and Qatar, which mediated the ceasefire, were working to address the dispute.
The ceasefire reached earlier this month after more than a year of negotiations is aimed at ending the 15-month war triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack and freeing scores of hostages still held in Gaza in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
Around 90 hostages are still being held in Gaza, and Israeli authorities believe at least a third, and up to half of them, were killed in the initial attack or died in captivity.
The first phase of the ceasefire runs until early March and includes the release of a total of 33 hostages and nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. The second — and far more difficult — phase, has yet to be negotiated. Hamas has said it will not release the remaining hostages without an end to the war, while Israel has threatened to resume its offensive until Hamas is destroyed.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in the Oct. 7 attack, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 people. More than 100 were freed during a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023. Israeli forces have rescued eight living hostages and recovered the remains of dozens more, at least three of whom were mistakenly killed by Israeli forces. Seven have been freed since the latest ceasefire began.
Israel’s military campaign has killed over 47,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It does not say how many of the dead were combatants. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.
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