Middle East latest: Israel lets displaced Palestinians return to northern Gaza
By The Associated Press
Israel began allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return on Monday to the heavily destroyed northern Gaza Strip for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas.
The U.N. said over 200,000 people were observed moving north in Gaza on Monday morning alone, in accordance with a fragile ceasefire.
“It’s the joy of return,” said Ismail Abu Matter, a father of four. He said people were singing, praying and crying as they reunited with relatives.
The ceasefire is aimed at winding down the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and Hamas and securing the release of dozens of hostages captured in the militants’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, which triggered the fighting. Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are also set to be freed in the exchange.
Israel said Monday that a Hamas list shows eight of the 33 hostages to be released in the ceasefire's first phase are dead. Israel has said the next release of hostages will take place on Thursday, followed by another on Saturday.
Hamas officials are in Cairo to discuss ceasefire
A high-ranking Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo on Monday evening, aiming to discuss the implementation of the ceasefire deal.
The Hamas statement said the delegation includes senior leader Mohammed Darwish and other prominent members of its leadership council and negotiating team.
Hamas said meetings with Egyptian officials will focus on ensuring progress in the ceasefire’s implementation and addressing any challenges in the ongoing exchange of hostages and Palestinian prisoners. The Hamas delegation also will meet with Palestinian prisoners released under the ceasefire’s six-week first phase that began just over a week ago.
Egypt is a key mediator in ceasefire talks and part of the joint committee implementing the deal.
An Egyptian official said Egyptian contractors, along with a U.S. company, run checkpoints in Gaza that inspect vehicles heading north via Salahuddin road. The contractors are part of an Egyptian-Qatari committee implementing the ceasefire, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Egypt's parliament speaker rejects proposals for taking in Palestinians from Gaza
Egypt’s parliament speaker on Monday strongly rejected proposals to move Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, saying this could spread conflict to other parts of the Middle East.
The comments by Hanfy el-Gebaly, speaker of the Egyptian House of Representatives, came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump urged Egypt and Jordan to take in Palestinians from war-ravaged Gaza.
El-Gebaly, who didn’t address Trump’s comments directly, told a parliament session Monday that such proposals "are not only a threat to the Palestinians but also they also represent a severe threat to regional security and stability.”
“The Egyptian House of Representatives completely rejects any arrangements or attempts to change the geographical and political reality for the Palestinian cause,” he said.
On Sunday, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry issued a carefully crafted statement rejecting any “temporary or long-term” transfer of Palestinians out of their territories.
The ministry warned that such a move “threatens stability, risks expanding the conflict in the region and undermines prospects of peace and coexistence among its people.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right governing partners have long advocated what they describe as the voluntary emigration of large numbers of Palestinians and the reestablishment of Jewish settlements in Gaza.
Human rights groups have already accused Israel of ethnic cleansing, which United Nations experts have defined as a policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove the civilian population of another group from certain areas “by violent and terror-inspiring means.”
Israel says Hamas list shows 8 of 33 hostages who were to be freed in first phase of Gaza ceasefire are dead
Israel says a Hamas list shows that eight of the 33 hostages to be released in the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire are dead.
Government spokesman David Mencer told journalists Monday that Hamas said the other 25 are alive. Israel overnight said it had received a list of information on the status of the hostages from Hamas.
Israel has said the next release of hostages will take place on Thursday, followed by another on Saturday.
Whether hostages are alive or dead inside Gaza has been a heartbreaking question for waiting families who have pushed Israel’s government to reach a deal to free them, fearing that time was running out.
Approximately 90 hostages are still in captivity. Prior to this announcement, Israel believed at least 35 of them were dead.
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