UNITED NATIONS, Oct 12 (APP): Tens of thousands of forcibly displaced Palestinians returned 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, according to multiple media reports.
Television footages show huge column of people, some barefoot, filed on foot north along the coastal road overlooking sandy beaches towards Gaza City, the enclave’s biggest urban area, which had been under attack just days ago in one of Israel’s biggest offensives of the war.
Gaza’s al-Rashid Street, which has witnessed massive population movements northward and southward over recent months as Palestinians fled Israeli attacks, is once again witnessing a tide of humanity on the move.
Meanwhile, At least 125 bodies were transferred to hospitals in the Gaza Strip Saturday, many of them recovered from under rubble, and one person who was shot by Israeli forces in Khan Younis, Dr. Khalil Al-Daqran, a spokesperson for Gaza’s Ministry of Health, told reporters.
The latest truce marks a key step toward ending a ruinous two-year Israeli war against Hamas. The fighting has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and displaced around 90% of the Gaza population of some 2 million, often multiple times. Many of them will find fields of rubble where their homes once stood.
The military confirmed the start of the ceasefire Friday, and the remaining 48 hostages, around 20 of them believed to be alive, are to be released by Monday. Palestinians said heavy shelling in parts of Gaza earlier on Friday had mostly stopped after the military’s announcement.
“I pray that God relieves our sorrow and distress and that people return to their homes. Even if the houses are destroyed, we will return, God willing,” said Ahmad Abu Watfa. “Everything is gone.”
Abu Watfa spoke to CNN on his way back home to Sheikh Radwan in Gaza City. He said he was feeling an overwhelming joy, even though he knew that it’s likely that nothing awaits him that he could call home.
“There is no feeling more beautiful than this — the feeling of people returning from the south to the north,” he said.
Meanwhile, the United Nations was given the green light by Israel to begin delivering scaled-up aid into Gaza starting Sunday, a U.N. official said.
The aid shipments are meant to address severe malnutrition and famine conditions triggered by Israeli offensives and restrictions on humanitarian help. The International Criminal Court is seeking the arrest of Netanyahu and his former defense minister for allegedly using starvation as a method of war. Israeli officials deny the accusations.
The aid will include 170,000 metric tons that have already been positioned in neighboring countries such as Jordan and Egypt as humanitarian officials awaited permission from Israeli forces to restart their work.
U.N. officials and Israeli authorities have engaged in a series of discussions in Jerusalem over the last 24 hours about the volume of aid humanitarian organizations can bring in and through which entry points.
U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters Friday that fuel, medical supplies and other critical materials have started flowing through the Kerem Shalom crossing. U.N. officials want Israel to open more border crossings and provide safe movement for aid workers and civilians who are returning to parts of Gaza that were under heavy fire until only recently.
In the last several months, the U.N. and its partners have been able to deliver only 20% of the aid needed in the Gaza Strip, according to U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher.