Tens of thousands of Palestinians begin journey home to devastated northern Gaza
Palestinian people displaced throughout Israel’s war on Gaza are finally returning home after an agreement was reached to release Arbel Yehoud – an Israeli civilian hostage – along with two other hostages.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed earlier that the hostage release – which will include female soldier Agam Berger – will take place on Thursday. Another three hostages are expected to be released on Saturday as previously planned.
It means tens of thousands of Palestinian people are now heading home to the devastated northern areas of the strip – such as Jabalia and Beit Hanoun – after forced displacement by the Israeli military during the war. Some of these people have spoken to the Associated Press.
Yasmin Abu Amshah, a mother of three, said she walked 6 kilometers (nearly 4 miles) to reach her home in Gaza City, where she found it damaged but still habitable. She also saw her younger sister for the first time in over a year.
“It was a long trip, but a happy one,” she said. “The most important thing is that we returned.”
![Palestinian people leave southern Gaza to return to the north.](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/cde6ae17e694ebd4898068004993ceedfc02d93c/0_451_6561_3937/master/6561.jpg?width=465&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
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Updated at 13.06 GMT
Key events
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The Gaza ceasefire’s initial phase, which came into effect on 19 January 2025, is expected to last six weeks, with Israeli captives being exchanged for Palestinian prisoners every Saturday.
It is expected that Hamas will deliver hostages to the Red Cross on each of these Saturdays to be conveyed to Israeli forces, and then Palestinian prisoners will be released from jail hours later.
Three hostages and 90 Palestinian prisoners were released in the first swap on 19 January. On Saturday, four female Israeli soldiers taken hostage by Hamas on 7 October 2023 were released, as were around 200 Palestinian prisoners held at Ofer military prison in the occupied West Bank.
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Updated at 14.27 GMT
Twenty five Israeli hostages in Gaza still alive – report
Twenty five out of 33 hostages on the Hamas list are alive, according to an Israeli government spokesperson.
Reuters quoted the spokesperson, who was commenting after Hamas provided more detail of who was alive and dead on the list of the 33 people due for release in the first phase of the truce deal.
“The families have been informed of the situation of their relatives,” Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said.
Approximately 90 hostages are still in captivity. Prior to this announcement, Israel believed at least 35 of them were dead.
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Updated at 14.31 GMT
As previously mentioned in the blog. sanctions imposed on Syria could soon be lifted as part of actions to provide some relief to the new government in Damascus, the EU’s top diplomat has said.
Kaja Kallas, high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy, was speaking at the start of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
“It is a step for step approach,” she said, amid European moves reconstruction of the war-ravaged country and build bridges with its new leadership after the end of the Assad family’s five-decade rule.
Brussels says it is now willing to ease sanctions on the expectation the new authorities make good on commitments to form an inclusive transition.
“If they are doing the right steps, then we are willing to do the steps on our behalf as well,” Kallas said.
France’s foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the EU could start by suspending sanctions on the energy, transport and banking sectors.
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Updated at 14.40 GMT
Iran has purchased Russian-made Sukhoi-35 fighter jets, a senior Revolutionary Guards commander has aid, amid Western concerns about Tehran and Moscow’s growing military cooperation.
This is the first time an Iranian official has confirmed the purchase of Su-35 jets, reports Reuters.
However, Ali Shadmani, who was quoted by the Student News Network, did not clarify how many jets were purchased and whether they had already been delivered to Iran.
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Israel’s actions in relation to the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency, Unrwa – which says it has been ordered cease all of its operations in occupied East Jerusalem by Thursday – would amount to the first forced eviction of a UN agency from a member state, writes the Guardian’s Diplomatic Editor, Patrick Wintour.
That’s part of a piece he has written on what Israels actions towards Unrwa may mean for Palestinians.
Unrwa has 7,000 trucks of supplies outside Gaza and 1,500 under procurement, according to Sam Rose, its acting director of emergency operations.
He told the Guardian he expected it to have provided food parcels to 1 million people in the 10 days since the ceasefire, and was also primed to send stocks including tarpaulins and mattresses for 1.6 million people.
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Netanyahu plans to meet with Trump next week at the White House – report
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to meet with US President Donald Trump at the White House next week, Israel’s Walla News website reported on Monday, citing three unnamed Israeli and American sources.
This is reportedly a gesture from the Republican president towards Netanyahu in light of the Gaza ceasefire deal that Trump has claimed credit for. The visit to the White House would be the first of any foreign leader to Washington since Trump re-entered office last week. Here is an extract from the Walla report:
Israeli and American officials said that the current plan is for Netanyahu to arrive in Washington on 3 February and leave on 5 February.
Netanyahu’s advisers and White House officials are still trying to determine the exact date for the meeting between Netanyahu and Trump.
Israeli officials said that Netanyahu’s arrival in Washington depends primarily on whether his health following the (prostate) surgery (he underwent last month) will allow Netanyahu to take a 12-hour flight and an intensive schedule of work meetings.
Netanyahu, who was one of the first to congratulate Trump when he beat Kamala Harris in the November US presidential elections, has called the Republican the “best friend Israel has ever had in the White House”.
During Trump’s first term, he delivered significant diplomatic wins for the Israeli prime minister, including recognising Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights in 2019 and supporting the Abraham accords with Gulf states.
On Saturday Trump said he had ordered the resumption of shipments of some of the largest bombs to Israel.
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Updated at 12.58 GMT
At least two people have been killed by Israeli forces in an attack on the Nur Shams camp in the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera has cited the Palestinian health ministry as saying. We will bring you more on this as more information comes in.
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Residents try again to return to southern border villages in Lebanon as ceasefire deal extended
South Lebanon residents accompanied by the country’s army tried to return to their villages on Monday, according to reports.
Hundreds of Lebanese people tried to return to their homes in southern Lebanon on Sunday – the deadline for Israeli forces to withdraw from the area.
But Israeli forces opened fire on civilian protesters trying to reach their home villages, killing at least 22 people, including at least six women and a Lebanese army soldier, and injuring 124, according to Lebanese health officials. Israel accused the Lebanese army of violating key commitments under the ceasefire deal and the Israeli military warned civilians that returning home would “expose them to danger”.
Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati said that Lebanon had agreed to an extension of the ceasefire deal between Hezbollah and Israel until 18 February 2025.
The official National News Agency said that Lebanese “army reinforcements” had arrived near the border town of Mais al-Jabal, where people had started to gather at “the entrance of the town” in preparation for entering alongside the military.
It said the Israeli army had “opened fire in the direction of the Lebanese army” near the town, without reporting casualties.
In the nearby town of Hula, the agency said residents entered “after the deployment of the army in several neighbourhoods”. Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee on Monday called again for south Lebanon residents to “wait” before returning.
A 60-day truce that went into effect at the end of November between Hezbollah and Israel halted a two-month-old Israeli ground assault and more than a year of cross-border aerial attacks that drove tens of thousands of people in both countries from their homes.
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Updated at 12.10 GMT
As we mentioned in the post at 09.37, US president Donald Trump caused outrage over the weekend when he proposed that large numbers of Palestinian people should leave Gaza in order to “just clean out” the whole strip, saying neighbouring countries such as Jordan and Egypt should take in more Palestinians.
Asked for a reaction to Trump’s comments, a German foreign ministry spokesperson said this morning that Berlin shared the view of “the European Union, our Arab partners, the United Nations … that the Palestinian population must not be expelled from Gaza and Gaza must not be permanently occupied or recolonised by Israel”.
Jordan is already home to several million Palestinians, while tens of thousands live in Egypt. Both countries and other Arab nations reject the idea of Palestinians in Gaza being moved to their countries.
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Updated at 11.34 GMT
Tens of thousands of Palestinians begin journey home to devastated northern Gaza
Palestinian people displaced throughout Israel’s war on Gaza are finally returning home after an agreement was reached to release Arbel Yehoud – an Israeli civilian hostage – along with two other hostages.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed earlier that the hostage release – which will include female soldier Agam Berger – will take place on Thursday. Another three hostages are expected to be released on Saturday as previously planned.
It means tens of thousands of Palestinian people are now heading home to the devastated northern areas of the strip – such as Jabalia and Beit Hanoun – after forced displacement by the Israeli military during the war. Some of these people have spoken to the Associated Press.
Yasmin Abu Amshah, a mother of three, said she walked 6 kilometers (nearly 4 miles) to reach her home in Gaza City, where she found it damaged but still habitable. She also saw her younger sister for the first time in over a year.
“It was a long trip, but a happy one,” she said. “The most important thing is that we returned.”
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Updated at 13.06 GMT
The UN’s Palestinian refugee agency, Unrwa, says it has been ordered by Israel to vacate premises and cease all of its operations in occupied East Jerusalem by Thursday.
The Israeli government has accused the UN agency of allowing Hamas militants to infiltrate its staff, an allegation the agency denies. The UN last year investigated Israel’s claim that 19 Unrwa workers took part in the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023 on southern Israel, and fired nine of those accused, but said Israel had not provided evidence to substantiate its broader allegations.
Unrwa is the major distributor of aid in Gaza and provides education, health and other basic services to millions of Palestinian refugees across the region, including in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Critics say Israel’s Unrwa ban – which has been widely opposed by many of its western allies – will jeopardise urgent humanitarian aid efforts desperately needed in the strip, where food, medicine, fuel and warm clothing are in short supply after Israeli obstruction during the 15 months of war.
The fragile Hamas-Israel ceasefire allows for an increase in aid to the territory, but the ban on the UN agency, seen by many as the core of the humanitarian support operation in the region, will likely have a devastating effect on many Palestinian’s lives. Here is a snippet from an analysis piece written by the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, on how the Unrwa ban will impact relief efforts:
Israel has declined to spell out further how it will implement the Knesset votes. But Unrwa staff believe it will mean international employees will not be given visas, any aid with an Unrwa label will be blocked from crossing the borders into Gaza and liaison between it and Israel Defense Forces about security will end. Unrwa bank accounts are also likely to be frozen.
“We are going to be left with a gaping hole,” Rose said. Almost half of the food being sent into Gaza is organised through the Unwra distribution network, even if not all of that food has an Unwra label.
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Updated at 10.38 GMT
US president Donald Trump proposed on Saturday that large numbers of Palestinian people should leave Gaza in order to “just clean out” the whole strip. The Republican president said he would like hundreds of thousands of people to move from the devastated territory to neighbouring countries, such as Jordan and Egypt, either temporarily or for the long term.
“I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing at a different location where they can maybe live in peace for a change,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One. “You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say: ‘You know, it’s over.’” Hamas said on Sunday that Palestinians “categorically reject any plans to deport or displace them from their land”.
Trump’s comments, which were welcomed by far-right Israeli politicians, were labelled dangerous and widely condemned by US allies and in the region. His suggestion was denounced by some as being a proposal for ethnic cleansing. You can read more about this reaction here.
Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, who is positioning herself as a bridge between the new Trump administration and the EU, reacted to the US president’s comments while taking questions from the press during a visit to Saudi Arabia on Monday.
Meloni said:
Trump is right when he says that the reconstruction of Gaza is obviously one of the main challenges we face, and that to succeed, however, a great deal of involvement from the international community is needed.
As for the issue of refugees, I don’t think, here again, that we are faced with a defined plan. I think we are rather faced with discussions with regional actors, who certainly need to be involved in this.
Meloni warned of the “significant impact” of Syrian refugees in several countries in the region, which “is not helping stabilisation”.
“These are certainly very complex matters, but the fact that they are being discussed, even at an informal level with the actors in the region, in my opinion means that we want to work seriously on the issue of the reconstruction of Gaza,” she said.
During Israel’s 15 month war on Gaza, more than two-thirds of buildings have been destroyed or damaged by one of the most intensive bombardments in modern times. It has sparked a refugee crisis as large parts of the territory are now uninhabitable.
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Updated at 10.06 GMT
There are some developments relating to the crippling sanctions the west placed on Syria during the rule of ousted former president Bashar al-Assad.
France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, has said the EU is lifting some sanctions against the new Syrian government, led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, the head of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham which led the rapid rebel offensive last month. It is not clear what sanctions will be lifted.
Earlier this month, the US eased some restrictions for six months to facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid, energy sales and personal remittances into Syria. The EU seems like it is now following a similar policy position.
According to an EU document seen by Reuters, diplomats from the bloc’s 27 members recommended taking swift action towards suspending the restrictions “in sectors necessary for economic stabilisation and launch of economic reconstruction of Syria, such as those regarding energy and transport”.
The diplomats, who are part of a group that negotiates the EU’s foreign policy positions on issues related to the Middle East and North Africa, also recommended “assessing options for reopening banking and investment relations with Syria”.
“The easing of EU restrictive measures would be rolled out in a staged approach and in a reversible manner, regularly assessing if the conditions in Syria allow for further suspension,” the diplomats wrote.
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Updated at 09.02 GMT
The new US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu have talked for the first time on the phone since the Trump administration took power last week.
A senior defence official provided this readout after the call took place:
Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held an introductory call today to discuss the unbreakable bond that exists between the United States and Israel. Both leaders discussed the importance of advancing mutual security interests and priorities, especially in the face of persistent threats. The Secretary stressed that the United States is fully committed, under President Trump’s leadership, to ensure that Israel has the capabilities it needs to defend itself. Both leaders agreed to remain in close contact.
The call came a day after Donald Trump said he had ordered the resumption of shipments of some of the largest bombs to Israel. Joe Biden put the hold on the delivery of those bombs due to concern over the devastating impact they could have on the civilian population, particularly in Gaza’s Rafah, during Israel’s war on the Palestinian territory, which has now killed over 47,200 people, according to the health ministry. One 2,000-pound bomb can rip through thick concrete and metal, creating a wide blast radius.
Israel and the US have recently confirmed deals which will reportedly see America deliver more aircraft to the IDF, including more F-35 and F-15-EX fighter jets.
Hegseth is a staunch supporter of Israel. In his book American Crusade (2020) he wrote: “We Christians – alongside our Jewish friends and their remarkable army in Israel – need to pick up the sword of unapologetic Americanism and defend ourselves.”
Hegseth continues: “For us as American crusaders, Israel embodies the soul of our American crusade – the ‘why’ to our ‘what’.”
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Updated at 08.34 GMT
How will the Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal work?
Here is a recap of the main elements of the ceasefire deal, which came into effect on 19 January 2025, as outlined by my colleague Bethan McKernan. You can read her explainer about the agreement and whether or not it is likely to lead to a permanent ceasefire here.
What’s in the deal?
All fighting is to pause during the first 42-day phase. Israeli forces are to withdraw from Gaza’s cities to a “buffer zone” along the edge of the strip, displaced Palestinians will be able to return home and there will be a marked increase in aid deliveries.
In the second stage, of unclear duration, the remaining living hostages will be returned and a corresponding ratio of Palestinian prisoners freed, alongside a complete Israeli withdrawal from the strip. The Rafah crossing to Egypt will be opened for the sick and wounded to leave. It is unclear whether it will be returned to Palestinian control.
The third phase, which could last years, would address the exchange of bodies of deceased hostages and Hamas members, and a reconstruction plan for Gaza. Much of the international community has advocated for the semi-autonomous West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, which lost control of Gaza to Hamas in 2007, to return to the strip. Israel, however, has repeatedly rejected the suggestion.
How will stage one work?
A total of 33 hostages will be released across the 42 days, in exchange for about 1,700 Palestinians held in Israel prisons, about 1,000 of whom are from Gaza and were arrested after 7 October 2023 under emergency legislation which allowed detention without charge or trial.
A handful of Israelis will be released every Saturday over the next month or so; the number of Palestinians to be freed upon their return generally depends on whether the Israelis are civilians or soldiers. Some of the freed Palestinians from the West Bank sentenced for serious crimes against Israelis will be sent to third countries rather than be allowed to return home.
In Gaza, people displaced from their homes are now allowed to move freely around the Palestinian territory, and more aid is arriving – compared to before the agreement – to alleviate the strip’s dire humanitarian conditions.
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Updated at 08.00 GMT
IDF opened fire on family eating dinner in Jenin, killing 2-year-old toddler, grandfather says
Israeli news outlet Hareetz has a harrowing account from the grandfather of a two-year-old Palestinian toddler who he says was killed on Saturday night by Israeli soldiers during the IDF’s raid on the West Bank city of Jenin.
Bassam Asous said Laila was shot while eating dinner with her family. Laila’s mum and Bassam’s daughter, a graduate student in engineering, was shot in the arm, and her aunt was hit in the head by shrapnel, he said. Laila’s father, an engineer, was killed in a work accident two years ago. Bassam said the Israeli soldiers did not ask the family to leave the house, situated on the outskirts of Jenin, before shooting at it.
Bassam, who says his family has no connection to any terrorists, told Hareetz:
“At first she was still alive and crying. I asked the soldiers – why did you kill her? She is just a little baby. How is she involved, why did you shoot at us? The soldier told me, ‘Sorry.’ We spoke English. What do you mean sorry? She was shot in the head.”
He continued:
We were having dinner; it was about 8 P.M. We were home, my daughters and I – I only have daughters – and my baby grandchild. There were soldiers outside but we didn’t hear them, we had the windows closed due to the weather.
Suddenly they started to shoot at us and we were surprised, why would they be shooting at us? The women ran into an interior room. They kept shooting. My daughters started to scream and we got onto the ground because a window had broken and there were glass shards.
My daughter held her daughter to her chest because she intended to feed her, and then she yelled – Laila has been hit! I grabbed her and went down to the street.
Bassam, a schoolteacher, said an ambulance was called but was delayed due to military activity in the area. Laila “was bleeding into the street” and died after not being able to receive treatment in time, he said.
The IDF told Hareetz that soldiers had surrounded a house and fired at a building where they believed a terrorist was located. The military said stun grenades were thrown at the building and calls were made on loudspeakers to warn those inside of their presence. When they realised Laila had been hit, they said they called for the Red Crescent and made sure Laila and her mother were evacuated.
The IDF has been carrying out a raid on Jenin aiming to rout out what it has described as militants. Jenin’s refugee camp, one of 19 across the West Bank built in the aftermath of Israel’s creation in 1948 to house displaced Palestinians, is a centre of armed Palestinian resistance to the Israeli occupation.
Since the start of the war in October 2023, which has sparked a wave of violence in the West Bank, Israel has raided or carried out airstrikes in Jenin multiple times, killing dozens of people and leaving a trial of heavy destruction there.
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Updated at 07.46 GMT
Even knowing that their homes have likely been damaged or destroyed by Israeli bombardments, Palestinians returning to northern Gaza have expressed joy on their return. Associated Press reports:
Many had feared Israel would make their exodus permanent, and expressed similar concerns about an idea floated by President Donald Trump to resettle large numbers of Palestinians in Egypt and Jordan.
Ismail Abu Matter, a father of four who had waited for three days before crossing with his family, described scenes of jubilation on the other side, with people singing, praying and crying as they were reunited with relatives.
“It’s the joy of return,” said Abu Matter, whose family was among the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled or were driven out of what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding its creation. “We had thought we wouldn’t return, like our ancestors.”
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