Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have begun returning to the northern part of the war-wracked Gaza Strip after a deal was reached between Hamas and Israel over exchange of Israeli captives and Palestinian prisoners, Press TV reported.
It was announced that Hamas has agreed to release female Israeli captive Arbel Yehud and two others by Friday and provided information on the conditions of those set to be freed in the first phase of the ceasefire deal.
Gazans describe the return as historic, saying this is a victorious day.
The displaced Palestinians had been stranded behind Israeli military barriers despite the ceasefire.
The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was reached after 15 months of the regime's genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.
The implementation of the first phase of the deal began on January 19 and is expected to witness release of more than 1,890 Palestinians for 33 Zionists, who are among the 240 that Gaza’s resistance groups captured in October 2023.
The captives were ensnared during the historical Operation al-Aqsa Flood that served as an instance of retaliation against the regime’s decades-long campaign of Western-backed occupation and aggression against Palestinians.
The subsequent war claimed the lives of at least 47,306 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
Israel approved of the ceasefire after falling short of realizing any of its wartime objectives, including enabling the return of the captives, “eliminating” the Gazan resistance, and causing forced displacement of Gaza’s entire population to neighboring Egypt.
On Sunday, Hamas lambasted Israel for delaying the implementation of the ceasefire deal after Israeli forces killed and injured the Palestinians trying to return to the north.
Earlier, however, the regime said Palestinians could begin returning to the north on Monday after Gaza’s Islamic Jihad resistance movement confirmed that Israeli captive Arbel Yehud would be released before the next scheduled captive/prisoner swap.
bd-pratidin/GR
