Thousands await return to northern Gaza, Trump urges Jordan, Egypt to take in Palestinians via Reuters
By Nidal Al-Mughrabi
CAIRO (Reuters) – Thousands of Palestinians waited, barred from the road, to return to their homes in northern Gaza on Sunday, feeling frustrated after breaking the deadlock.
A day after the second exchange of Israeli hostages held in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, the clashes underscored the danger hanging over the warring faction and Israel, longtime enemies in a series of wars in Gaza.
In Central Gaza, columns of people were waiting on major roads leading north, some in cars and some on foot, Witnesses said.
“A sea of people is waiting for a sign to return to Gaza City and the north,” said Tamer Al-Burai, an evacuee from Gaza City. “This is the contract we signed, right?”
“Many of those people don’t even have their houses back home standing. But they want to leave even if they feel next to their rubbish,” he told Reuters in an interview.
On Sunday, Witnesses said that many people spent the night on the Salahuddin road, a large area that runs north to south and on the coastal road leading north, waiting to pass through the Netzarimi forces in the port.
Al-Awda hospital authorities said one Palestinian was killed and 15 others were wounded by Israeli fire, from soldiers apparently trying to prevent people from getting too close to the beach road. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
Cars, trucks and rickshaws are heavily laden with mattresses, food, and tents that serve as shelters for more than a year for those in the middle and low-lying sectors.
Under the agreement succeeded by Egyptian and Qatari mediators and supported by the United States, Israel was intended to allow Palestinians displaced from the north to return to their homes.
But Israel said that Hamas’ failure to provide a detailed list of those scheduled for the release or surrender of Arbel Yehud, the woman who was attacked by Israel on Oct 7, 2023, meant that the agreement had been violated.
As a result, CheckPoints in Gentral Gaza would not be opened to allow crossings to the north, the statement said. Hamas issued a statement blaming Israel for the delay and accusing it of effort.
‘Site Demolition’
On Saturday, US President Donald Trump ordered the US military to release 2,000 bombs-joe biden had been ordered to be delivered to Israel instead of the people of Gaza.
He was also called to Egypt and Jordan to take more Palestinians from Gaza temporarily or permanently, and said that “we just have to remove everything”.
“It’s a place of real demolition, almost everything is demolished and people are dying there,” he told reporters after a call with Jordan’s King Abdullah.
In response to the comments, a senior official of Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that runs Gaza, ended up fleeing the Palestinian Authority for fear of being completely evicted from their homes.
The Palestinians “will not accept any offers or solutions, or (or (offers)) seem to have the good intentions of the US President Trump,” as announced in the proposals of USAMAS TORTOLITICUU, Reuters.
Most of the Palestinians are included in the roads leading north and rejected by Trump’s solution.
“If he thinks that he will remove the Palestinian people by force (at that time) this is impossible, impossible, impossible. The Palestinian people firmly believe that this country is their land,” said Magdy Seidam.
“No matter how much Israel tries to destroy, break, and show people that it has won, in reality it has not won.”
The Israeli army has issued warnings to Palestinians not to approach their positions in Gaza and said that the army fired several times but “right now, at the moment, we do not know of any injuries caused by the shooter.”
