Thousands of Palestinians stream back to northern Gaza as cease-fire with Israel holds

BEIRUT —  Almost 16 months after Israel ordered them to flee south, displaced Palestinians began a long-anticipated reverse exodus Monday, trekking to their homes in northern Gaza as a cease-fire held and Israeli troops withdrew from parts of the enclave.

Even before 7 a.m., when an Israeli military spokesman said people could return on foot, video broadcasts showed massive crowds gathering near the Netzarim Corridor, an Israeli-controlled area that runs from east to west and bisects the Gaza Strip.

As Israeli troops began to pull back, TV coverage showed people streaming in, with an official from the militant group Hamas telling French news agency Agence France-Presse that more than 200,000 had gone back despite not knowing whether they had a home left. Gaza’s north was the site of the fiercest fighting over the course of the war.

Pictures on social media depicted miles-long queues of cars at checkpoints staffed by foreign security company personnel in armored vehicles.

“We’ve been sleeping near this area for three days, waiting for the Israelis to let us through,” one man in his 20s said in an interview with Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera. He had come from Khan Yunis, a city in southern Gaza 11 miles away, he said.

In a statement, the Israeli military told returnees to stay away from troops stationed along the path. It also warned them that “transfer of militants or weapons via these routes to the northern Gaza Strip will be considered a breach of the [cease-fire] agreement.”

An aerial photograph shows displaced Palestinians returning to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip.

(Mohammad Abu Samra / Associated Press)

“Do not cooperate with any terrorist entity that may try to exploit you to transfer weapons or prohibited materials,” the statement said.

Gaza residents posted videos on social media of impromptu celebrations, with crowds of men beating drums and chanting nationalist songs.

Hamas officials, commenting on the day’s events, described the return as a “message to all who wager on the breaking of [Palestinians’] will and displacing them from their land.”

Israel had delayed Palestinians’ return to northern Gaza for two days, as a dispute with Hamas arose over Arbel Yehud, a civilian hostage whom Israel had expected to be included in the earlier release. Hamas has since said she will be in the next group to be freed Thursday.

Against the backdrop of the fragile cease-fire, Arab nations that are watching the process were stunned by statements President Trump made over the weekend, saying Palestinians should be removed from Gaza and sent to Jordan and Egypt. “We just clean out that whole thing and say: ‘You know, it’s over,’” Trump said.

Opponents said forced removal of an entire population amounts to ethnic cleansing and is illegal under international law. For Palestinians, it would amount to a second Nakba, or “catastrophe,” their reference to the founding of Israel in 1948, during which more than 750,000 Palestinians, according to the United Nations, fled or were driven from their homes. Many still harbor hope for the creation of a Palestinian state in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Displaced Palestinians make their way back to the northern Gaza Strip.

(Abdel Kareem Hana / Associated Press)

Jordan, especially, would have difficulty absorbing more Palestinian people. Palestinian descendants already make up a majority of its population.

“Jordan is for Jordanians and Palestine is for Palestinians,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said in a news conference in Amman, the capital, on Sunday. “Our rejection for the deportation is steadfast and unchanging.”

The deal between Israel and Hamas, brokered after months of intense negotiations by Qatar, Egypt and the U.S., stipulates that 33 Israeli hostages be released during the first phase; Israel would release around 1,900 Palestinian detainees.

Seven Israelis have been released so far. The Israeli government said it was informed by Hamas that eight of the 26 remaining hostages are dead.

Even as the cease-fire in Gaza endured, Israel’s truce with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah appeared to be on shakier ground.

Israeli troops on Monday shot at residents of south Lebanon trying to return to their border villages after Israel remained on Lebanese territory past a Sunday deadline for its withdrawal.

The agreement, which began in November, gave Israel a 60-day window to withdraw; it would use that period to ensure Hezbollah has no presence near the Lebanese-Israeli border and the Lebanese army has exclusive control of the area.

In the days before the deadline, Israeli leaders said the Lebanese army was not yet ready to deploy its forces and, as a result, Israeli troops would remain in place. The Lebanese army has countered by saying it cannot take over the area until Israeli forces pull out.

At least 25 people have been killed and 140 wounded over the last two days, health authorities say.

On Sunday, the White House said in a statement that the deadline would be extended until Feb. 18.

Despite anxieties over the cease-fire’s fragility, Hezbollah has not restarted its rocket attacks on Israel, despite repeated statements from its leaders that it is willing to return to war if Israel overstays.

“The residents of these villages where the occupation remains are getting ready with our national army to liberate it,” said Hassan Fadlallah, a Hezbollah lawmaker, speaking at an event in the southern Lebanese city of Bint Jbeil.

At the same time, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israeli forces will “continue to firmly enforce the cease-fires in the north and south.”

“Anyone who violates the rules or threatens [Israeli] forces will bear the full cost,” he wrote in a statement on social media.

Times staff writer Tracy Wilkinson in Washington contributed to this report.