Mediator Qatar has announced that a deal has been reached to release an Israeli civilian hostage and allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza, easing the first major crisis in a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Qatar’s statement earlier Monday said Hamas would work with the civilian hostage, Erbil Yehud, along with two other hostages before Friday. And on Monday, Israeli authorities will allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office in a statement said The hostage release will take place on Thursday and he confirmed that Palestinians will be able to move north on Monday.
Under the ceasefire agreement, Israel began allowing Palestinians to return to their homes in northern Gaza on Saturday. But Israel prevented it because of the Jew, who Israel said should have been released on Saturday. Hamas accused Israel of violating the agreement.
The release of Yehud and two other hostages is in addition to the one already scheduled for next week, when three hostages should be released.
In addition, Hamas said in a statement that the militant group had given a list of information it wanted on all hostages released in the first phase of the six-week ceasefire. The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office confirmed that it had received the list.
Thousands of Palestinians have gathered, waiting to cross the area north through the Netzarim corridor, while local health officials said on Sunday that Israeli forces opened fire on the crowd, killing two and wounding nine.
US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has suggested that most of Gaza’s population be resettled elsewhere, at least temporarily, including elsewhere in Egypt and Jordan, to “just clean up” the war-torn region. Can be. Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinians refused amid fears that Israel might never allow the refugees to return.
Senior Hamas official Basim Na’im said the Palestinians would never accept such a proposal, “even if apparently well-intentioned under the guise of reconstruction”. He said the Palestinians could rebuild Gaza if Israel lifted its blockade.
Israeli forces opened fire on the crowd overnight and three times on Sunday, killing two people and injuring nine, including a child, among the casualties.
Israel’s military said in a statement that it had “fired warning shots at several gatherings of dozens of suspects who were advancing and threatening the soldiers”.
Israel has withdrawn from several areas of Gaza under a cease-fire, which took effect last Sunday. The army has warned people to stay away from its forces, which still operate in a buffer zone inside Gaza along the border and in the Netzarim corridor.
Hamas released four female Israeli soldiers on Saturday, and Israel released 200 Palestinian prisoners, most of whom were serving life sentences after being convicted of deadly attacks. But Israel said the Jewish civilian hostages should have been released before the soldiers.
Israel has also accused Hamas of failing to provide details on the terms of hostages released in the remaining five weeks of the first phase of the ceasefire.
Hamas said it had told mediators – the US, Egypt and Qatar – that the Jew was alive and provided guarantees that he would be released.
Frustration grew among the Palestinians as some became warm around the grills against the winter cold. Nadia Qasim said, “We have been in agony for a year and a half.
“The fate of more than a million people is tied to one person,” said Fadi al-Anwar, also displaced from Gaza City, referring to the Jews. “See how precious we are? We are useless.
The ceasefire aims to end the 15-month war that began with the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas and free the hostages still held in Gaza in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. About 90 hostages are still in Gaza, and Israeli officials believe at least a third, and as many as half, have died.
The hostage-taker and Eaton Horne’s father, Itzic Horne, called any resumption of fighting a “death sentence for hostages” and criticized government ministers who wanted to continue the war.
The first phase of the ceasefire lasted until early March and included the release of 33 hostages and about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. The second – and far more difficult – step, cannot yet be negotiated. Hamas has said it will not release the remaining hostages without an end to the war, while Israel has threatened to resume its offensive until Hamas is destroyed.
Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped about 250 others in the October 7 attack. More than 100 were released during a week-long ceasefire in November 2023. The Israeli military has rescued eight hostages alive and has recovered more live hostages. At least three of them were accidentally killed by Israeli forces. Seven have been released in the latest ceasefire.
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, more than half of whom are women and children. It does not say how many of the dead were combatants. The Israeli military says it has killed more than 17,000 fighters without providing evidence.
Israeli bombardment and ground operations have left Gaza wide open and displaced 90 percent of its 2.3 million population. Many who have returned home since the ceasefire began have found only mounds of rubble.
