Palestinians in Wadi Gaza waited with their belongings to return to the north of the strip on Sunday (January 26), a day after Hamas freed four female Israeli soldiers in exchange for 200 Palestinian prisoners.
Yet, a delay in freeing another hostage prompted Israel to block hundreds of thousands of Gazans from returning to the enclave's bombed-out north.
“Since 4 o'clock until now, we have been waiting for them to open the checkpoint,” said Mohammad Abu Jarad, as he sat with his young children. “When I arrive, I will kiss my whole neighborhood, I will kiss the sand, and the stones.”
Palestinian officials said as many as 650,000 displaced people were waiting to return to the north beginning on Sunday under the ceasefire.
Hamas, which considers the return of Gazans to their homes to be one of the principal elements of the ceasefire, said it would free the hostage next week, and called the halt to the reopening of the north a violation of the truce.
An Israeli military spokesman called it a breach of the truce, while Hamas said it was a technical issue. A Hamas official said the group had informed mediators that she was alive and would be freed next Saturday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Palestinians in Gaza would not be allowed to cross back to the northern part of the territory until the issue was resolved.
Israel blocked access into the north of the disputed territory on Saturday (January 25) after the Palestinian militant movement Hamas failed to free a hostage, a female Israeli citizen, in the second prisoner exchange that was part of the first phase of a ceasefire deal that aims to end the 15-month-old war in Gaza.
(Production: Hatem Khaled, Fadi Shana, Yazan Kalach, Gabriel Goh)