Afrasianet - Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinian citizens began returning to the northern Gaza Strip on Monday morning, following Israel's genocidal war against the residents of the Palestinian enclave for more than 15 months.
Israel's Channel 12 reported that the army forces began withdrawing from the Netzarim (center) axis separating the southern and northern Gaza Strip, which was established by the occupation army with the start of its ground operation on October 27, 2023.
The occupation army announced, late yesterday evening, allowing the return of Palestinians displaced from the northern Gaza Strip to their homes .
Israeli army spokesman Avichai Adraee said in a statement that the army will allow Palestinians to return on foot to the northern Gaza Strip via the Netzarim road, and through Rashid Street (west) starting at 07:00 am.
"Vehicles will be allowed to travel to the north of the Gaza Strip after the inspection through Salahuddin (east) from 09:00 am (10:00 Mecca time)," Adraee said.
Israeli Army Radio reported that the displaced people's vehicles would head to northern Gaza after being inspected by a private American company.
Israeli warnings
The IDF spokesman warned against "approaching the IDF forces in all their places of deployment and stationing in the southern Gaza Strip, the Rafah crossing and thePhiladelphia area."
He also warned against "swimming, fishing, diving and entering the sea in the coming days."
Adraei's statement came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced late yesterday evening that Israel and Hamas had reached an agreement to release six Israeli prisoners, including Erbil Jews, in exchange for allowing displaced Palestinians to return to the northern Gaza Strip.
Also yesterday evening, Qatar announced that as part of the ongoing efforts led by mediators, an understanding had been reached between the two parties that Hamas would hand over "Jews" and two Israeli prisoners before next Friday, and Hamas would hand over three additional prisoners on Saturday in accordance with the agreement.
In return, the understandings include – according to the statement – that "the Israeli authorities will allow, starting Monday morning, the return of displaced citizens in the Gaza Strip from the south to the northern areas of the Strip."
Meanwhile, Stephen Whitkoff, US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, praised the agreement announced by Qatar, describing it as "wonderful" and noting "Trump's happiness with this achievement." Whitkoff also thanked "the Israeli government and all those involved in the Gaza agreement."
For its part, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) said in a statement that it had handed the mediators a list of names of Israeli prisoners who will be released throughout the first phase of the agreement.
Netanyahu had conditioned the return of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza to the northern Gaza Strip on the release of "Jews," according to a statement from his office.
The main disagreement lies in the classification of this prisoner, as while the Palestinian resistance insists that it is considered "military", Israel insists that it is "civilian," according to Israeli media.
On January 19, the ceasefire between the Palestinian resistance and the Israeli occupation came into effect, and its first phase will last 42 days, during which negotiations will take place to start a second and then a third phase, mediated by Cairo, Doha and Washington.
With US support, between October 7, 2023 and January 19, 2025, Israel committed genocide in Gaza that left more than 158,000 Palestinian martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 14,000 missing.