On Sunday, the Israeli troops prevented the Palestinians from returning to their homes in the north of the Gaza Strip, since Israel said that Hamas violated the terms of the ceased agreement that the fire entered into force a week ago while Hamas accused Israel of temporarily.
Officials of both sides have claimed to be in contact with mediators to try to solve the crisis, one of the most significant between the parties since the ceased the fire brought at least a temporary suspension of the fighting after 15 months of devastating war.
According to the terms of the initial phase of the agreement agreed this month, Israel was expected to withdraw some of his strength to allow hundreds of thousands of displaced people of Gaza to head north after the exchange of hostages and prisoners on Saturday.
But the Israeli government stated that Hamas violated the agreement not first of resting the Israeli civil women prisoner and not providing Israel with information regarding the status of the other hostages, as required by the agreement.
Israeli officials said that, according to the agreement, Arbel Yehud, an Israeli Civilian held hostage to Gaza, should have been one of the four women released on Saturday.
The hostages released were all soldiers who had been a lookout in a base on the Gaza border and from there they were kidnapped on October 7, 2023, during the attack led by Hamas against Israel who started the war.
The office of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that it will not allow the inhabitants of Gaza to head north “until the release of the civil Arbel Yehud has been organized”, leaving the times of the withdrawal of the troops and the return unclear unclear of the residents.
The Israeli government reiterated in a Sunday declaration that Netanyahu was “stopped” on that decision. Mrs. Yehud was expected to be released together with about 100 other hostages during a ceased the fire that lasted a week in November 2023.
In addition, by Saturday evening Hamas should have provided to Israel a detailed list of the conditions of the remaining 26 hostages that would have been released in the next five weeks. An Israeli official, speaking in anonymity condition to discuss a delicate question, said on Sunday afternoon that Israel has not yet received the list.
Israeli officials said they believed that many or most of the hostages expected for the release in the first phase of the agreement are alive, but the status of some of them is not clear.
On Sunday Hamas accused Israel of taking time and having violated the agreement by preventing the displaced people of Gaza from moving north.
In a statement, Hamas said he informed the mediators that Mrs. Yehud was alive and to have given “all the guarantees necessary for her release”, adding that she was contacting the mediators in the hope of resolving the dispute.
The ceased agreement was mediated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt. The Israeli official said on Sunday that Israel did not receive any test from Hamas about Mrs. Yehud’s status.
But it seems that Hamas is not holding Mrs. Yehud.
Hussein Al-Batsh, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad official, a smaller armed organization that sometimes rivals Hamas in Gaza, said on Sunday at the New York Times that Mrs. Yehud was in the custody of the Quds brigades, the military wing of the group. He said Mrs. Yehud was not released on Saturday for what he called “technical reasons”.
Al-Batsh added that the high managers of the Islamic Jihad were involved in the discussions with mediators. A group spokesman, Mohammed al Haj Mousa, then declared in a press release that Mrs. Yehud will be released before next Saturday to allow Gaza’s displaced people to return to the north as quickly as possible.
But Israel denied that an agreement was reached on the return of Mrs. Yehud. An official aware of the details said on Sunday evening that the contacts with the mediators were continuing and repeated that Israel would not allow the displaced people of Gaza to move to the north until the issue of the release of Mrs. Yehud had not been resolved.
On Sunday the images of a large crowd of displaced Palestinians circulated in the Palestinian media pending the corridor of Netzarim, an area built by the Israeli forces that divides Gaza in two, to return to the north.
Wafa, the Palestinian Authority’s news agency, reported that a person was killed and many others were wounded west of Nuseirat, in the center of Gaza, after the Israeli forces shot against the crowd of people waiting to return to the north.
The army declared in a Sunday declaration that his troops had “identified several groups of dozens of suspicions that were advancing towards the troops and represented them a threat”. The troops fired warning strokes against them, adds the declaration, without facing the news on the victims.
The army has again invited the residents of Gaza to follow the announcements and avoid approaching the troops unfolded in the area. The army added that his troops eliminated a person in the south of Gaza who identified as a member of the Missilistic Unit of the Islamic Jihad and which represented a threat to them.
Ghada Al-Kurd, 37, said she chose to stay in the center of Gaza on Sunday despite the desire to return to her home in the north. “I won’t go until everything is clear,” he said. “I won’t risk life: you can’t trust those soldiers,” he added.
Mrs. Al-Kurd, who left her home and her two daughters in Gaza City in the first weeks of war, wondered once again when she finally saw them. “Here we are just waiting, feeling stressed and anxious,” he said. “They are playing with our destiny,” he added.
Johnatan Reiss, Gabby Sobelmann AND Myra Novec contributed to the report.