Palestinians stream back to northern Gaza on foot after hostage-release breakthrough

livemint.com:

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Thousands of Palestinians began returning to a ravaged northern Gaza and what was left of their homes and families, after Hamas agreed to release more hostages than expected this week to keep its cease-fire with Israel in place. Israel allowed displaced Gazans to begin crossing a military zone that bisects the enclave on Monday after Israeli forces refused their movement over the weekend, when the return of Palestinians was expected per the cease-fire deal.

Israel had said it wouldn’t allow Gazans to move north after Hamas didn’t release a civilian hostage on Saturday, something that was agreed as part of the deal, according to an Israeli official. But a breakthrough was announced early Monday. The Israeli prime minister’s office and Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said that an agreement had been reached to soon release the Israeli hostage, Arbel Yehoud, who had been expected to be released Saturday, along with two others held in Gaza.

Hamas delivered mediators an update on the status of the hostages to be released in the first stage. Twenty-five of the 33 hostages to be released in the first of the multiphase deal are alive and eight are dead, according to a person familiar with the matter. Of these, seven living hostages have already been released since the cease-fire went into effect on Jan.

19. “Hamas backed down and will conduct another batch of releases of hostages on Thursday," the Israeli prime minister’s office said. Three additional hostages are also slated to be released as scheduled on Saturday.