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SvennoJ on 27 January 2025
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Israel has partially withdrawn troops from Netzarim Corridor

Hamas will be releasing two batches of Israeli captives this week, on Thursday and Saturday. We do have two of the names: the person who has been front and centre of this entire dispute, Arbel Yehud. And we also have Agam Berger and she is a soldier.

And one more person we haven’t yet received the name of – who could be a US civilian.

Hamas was supposed to begin with the release of civilians. That would then be followed by soldiers, and then finally the sick, wounded, and elderly. But on Saturday, instead, we saw the release of four Israeli captives who were all soldiers.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu got together his top military brass. They discussed this and they decided it wasn’t worth giving up this ceasefire deal that is obviously so fragile.

They decided to go ahead with the release of 200 Palestinian prisoners, but then of course we saw the suffering of those many thousands of people at the Netzarim Corridor, which the Israelis decided not to open as per the deal. It’s a 7km stretch of land where Israel has set up Israeli military bases and essentially blocked the north from the middle and southern parts of Gaza. So finally, Israel said they would open it.

Now I have seen a map of this. There is only a partial withdrawal of the troops. They have essentially opened around three-quarters of that corridor. They’re still in very tight control of that, so they haven’t completely relinquished from that area.

And they did put up a number of caveats to say essentially no weapons, no fighters, and they’re going to allow people to walk in the first hours and then they will start checking transport vehicles going through later on.


Hamas hails return of displaced Palestinians to north Gaza

The group has issued a statement describing the return of displaced people as “a victory” for the Palestinians and a defeat for the Israelis, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.

It said the scenes of the return of Palestinians to the areas from which they were displaced confirm their link to their land and once again “prove the failure of the occupation to achieve the aggressive goals of displacing people and breaking their steadfast will”.


‘Historic’ return for Palestinians displaced since start of Gaza war

Finally, the moment has come and the dream of displaced Palestinians has come true. We are seeing a lot of people welcoming their loved ones. They’re bringing them water and food. We can see them hugging each other.

The families who are carrying their belongings and travelling by donkey or car will be allowed to do so at 9am local time from Salah al-Din Street.

These civilians will continue to suffer after the war ends because of the mass devastation that has been inflicted on the northern part of the Gaza Strip. Many houses are destroyed. Some people may also have to dig deep to retrieve their loved ones from under the rubble.

Still, the atmosphere here in the northern Gaza Strip is filled with happiness and joy. This is a historic moment for all Palestinians to witness the return of 1.5 million people forcibly displaced since the beginning of the war.