‘We’re worthless’: Israel blocks Palestinians going home to northern Gaza, kills 22 in Lebanon

Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip: Qatar has announced that an agreement has been reached for the release of an Israeli civilian hostage and to allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza, easing the first major crisis of the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Israel kept thousands of Palestinians from returning to their homes in northern Gaza on Sunday as it accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire by changing the order of hostages it has released. Gaza health officials said Israeli forces fired on the crowd, killing two people and wounding nine.

Displaced Palestinians gathering with their belongings near a roadblock on the al Rashid Street, as they wait to return to their homes in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.Credit: AP

Qatar’s statement on Monday said Hamas would hand over the civilian hostage, Arbel Yehoud, along with two other hostages before Friday. And next Monday, Israeli authorities would allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement said the hostage release – which will include soldier Agam Berger – would take place on Thursday. It confirmed Palestinians could move north on Monday. Israel’s military said people could start crossing on foot at 7am.

Israeli forces also opened fire in Lebanon on protesters demanding their planned withdrawal by a Sunday deadline under a separate ceasefire with the Hezbollah militant group. Health officials in Lebanon said at least 22 people were killed and over 120 were wounded. Israel says it hasn’t withdrawn because Lebanese forces are not deploying quickly enough, while Lebanon says its forces cannot move into areas until Israeli troops leave.

Displaced Palestinians wait near a roadblock after being stopped from returning to northern Gaza.Credit: AP

Israel was to begin allowing Palestinians to return to their homes in northern Gaza through the Netzarim corridor bisecting the territory on Sunday. Israel put that on hold, blocking people from reaching what is left of their homes until Hamas frees Yehoud, whom Israel said should have been released on Saturday when four female soldiers were returned as part of the three-phase ceasefire.

Crowds of people carrying their belongings filled a main road leading to a closed Israeli checkpoint. “We have been in agony for a year and a half,” said Nadia Qasem.

Fadi al-Sinwar, also displaced from Gaza City, said, “The fate of more than a million people is linked to one person,” referring to the Israeli hostage, Arbel Yehoud.

“See how valuable we are? We are worthless.”

Dispute and shootings test fragile ceasefire

Israeli forces fired on the Gaza crowds on three occasions over the weekend, killing two people and wounding nine, including a child, according to Al-Awda Hospital, which received the casualties.

There was no immediate comment from its military, which on Saturday said it had fired warning shots in the area. Local medical officials said a Palestinian man was shot and killed.

Israel has pulled back from several areas of Gaza under the ceasefire, which came into effect a week ago. The military has warned people to stay away from its forces, which still operate in a buffer zone inside Gaza along the border and in the Netzarim corridor.

Displaced Palestinians gather with their belongings near a roadblock on Salah al-Din Street, as they wait.Credit: AP

Israel also accused Hamas of failing to provide details on the conditions of hostages set to be freed in the remaining five weeks of the ceasefire’s first phase.

In a statement on Sunday, Hamas said it had told mediators – the US, Egypt and Qatar – that Yehoud was alive and provided guarantees that she would be released.

A spokesman for Gaza’s second-largest militant group, Islamic Jihad, also said the dispute over Yehoud had been settled. Mohamed al-Hajj Mousa said the group told mediators she would be released before Saturday.

‘A death sentence for hostages’

The ceasefire is aimed at ending the 15-month war triggered by Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack and freeing hostages still held in Gaza in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. About 90 hostages are still in Gaza, and Israeli authorities believe at least a third, and up to half, have died.

Itzik Horn, the father of hostages Iair and Eitan Horn, called any resumption of fighting “a death sentence for the hostages” and criticised Israeli government ministers who want the war to go on.

Families and supporters of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza protest outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem on Sunday.Credit: AP

The ceasefire’s first phase runs until early March and includes the release of 33 hostages and nearly 2000 Palestinian prisoners. The second – and far more difficult – phase has yet to be negotiated.

Hamas has said it would 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 1200 people in the October 7 attack, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250. 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 them mistakenly killed by Israeli forces. Seven have been freed in the latest ceasefire.

Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 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.

Israeli bombardment and ground operations have flattened wide swaths of Gaza and displaced around 90 per cent of its population of 2.3 million people. Many who have returned home since the ceasefire began have found only mounds of rubble.

US President Donald Trump on Sunday suggested that most of Gaza’s population resettled elsewhere, including in Egypt and Jordan, to “just clean out” the war-ravaged enclave. He said “it could be temporary or long term”, adding that the area of the world that encompasses Gaza, “over centuries” has “had many, many conflicts”.

Jordan and the Palestinians swiftly rejected that, and Egypt has previously rejected the scenario, fearing Israel might never allow refugees to return.

Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim said Palestinians would never accept such a proposal, “even if seemingly well-intentioned under the guise of reconstruction.”

AP

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.