“Israeli” Pullout After Truce Sees Gazans Return to Wrecked Homes in the North

By Staff, Agencies

Displaced Palestinians have begun returning to northern Gaza following the implementation of a ceasefire agreement between the Hamas Resistance movement and the "Israeli" occupation, aimed at ending the genocidal war.

The Palestinians were starting to walk north to return to their wrecked and abandoned homes on Friday after the "Israeli" occupation forces [IOF] said the ceasefire agreement with Hamas came into effect at noon local time and that "Israeli" troops were begun pulling back from parts of the territory to the agreed-upon deployment lines.

As soon as the troops withdrew, thousands of people were seen flooding back to Gaza City on foot along roads. 

By midday on Friday, "Israeli" tanks had withdrawn from al-Rashid Road, which stretches from southern to northern Gaza and had previously been blocked to prevent displaced people from returning home.

Meanwhile, the "Israeli" occupation published a list of 250 detainees to be released in exchange for "Israeli" captives held in Gaza as part of the ceasefire deal.

However, the list does not include the names of several senior Palestinian leaders, including Marwan Barghouti and Ahmad Saadat.

Now, the 72-hour period to release all 48 remaining "Israeli" captives from Gaza has started.
The ceasefire came after Palestinians reported heavy "Israeli" shelling on Friday morning in northern Gaza.

Gaza witnessed new "Israeli" attacks in the hours leading up to "Israel’s" announcement of the ceasefire implementation on Friday morning. "Israel" conducted air and artillery strikes in Gaza City and Khan Younis.

Medical sources also report that 35 martyrs have been recovered from under the rubble since morning.

"Israeli" attacks continued on Thursday in the besieged Gaza Strip despite an announcement by mediators that a ceasefire had been reached to end the two-year aggression on the besieged Gaza Strip.

The "Israeli" cabinet ratified the agreement on Friday morning, just hours after Hamas announced that a deal had been reached.

Gaza’s authorities called for a thorough investigation into "Israeli" crimes to begin immediately in the wake of the announcement of the ceasefire.

In a statement released on Friday, Gaza’s Government Media Office urged legal action against "Israelis" who ordered and perpetrated war crimes.

It asked for "the international community, the United Nations, all international and legal organizations, and the International Criminal Court to hold the leaders of "Israel" accountable and to not grant them any political or legal immunity".

The office said it wanted "the formation of an independent international committee to investigate war crimes and genocide and ensure the return and compensation of all displaced people."

It also demanded “an immediate and comprehensive end to genocide in all its forms, including killing, bombing, starvation, siege, and forced displacement.”

The office called for a complete lifting of the siege on the Gaza Strip and the immediate opening of all crossings to allow the entry of aid without restrictions.

Unconditional aid entering Gaza is also part of the deal, but there’s no word yet on any aid entering the besieged Palestinian region.

Around 600 trucks are expected to enter daily under the ceasefire agreement.

The Gaza office sought an urgent plan for the comprehensive reconstruction of the Gaza Strip with Arab and international funding, according to a transparent mechanism that guarantees the delivery of resources to civilians.

It urged an urgent action for the protection of medical, media, and humanitarian personnel in accordance with the Geneva Conventions, and the return of the bodies stolen by "Israel".

Elsewhere in the statement, the office also called for the immediate release of all Palestinian detainees in "Israeli" prisons.

The statement demanded the urgent evacuation of sick and wounded people, especially children and cancer patients, to receive treatment abroad.