Mediator Qatar has announced that an agreement has been reached to release an Israeli civilian hostage and allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza, easing the first major crisis of the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Qatar’s statement early on Monday said Hamas would hand over the civilian hostage, Arbel Yehoud, along with two other hostages before Friday. And on Monday, Israeli authorities will allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza.
The office of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement said the hostage release would take place on Thursday and confirmed that Palestinians would be able to move north on Monday.
Under the ceasefire deal, Israel on Saturday was to begin allowing Palestinians to return to their homes in northern Gaza. But Israel put that on hold because of Yehoud, who Israel said should have been released on Saturday. Hamas accused Israel of violating the agreement.
The release of Yehoud and two other hostages is in addition to the one already set for next Saturday, when three hostages should be released.
In addition, Hamas in a statement said the militant group had handed over a list of required information about all hostages to be released in the ceasefire’s six-week first phase. The Israeli prime minister’s office confirmed it had received the list.
Thousands of Palestinians have gathered, waiting to move north through the Netzarim corridor bisecting the territory, while local health officials on Sunday said Israeli forces fired on the crowd, killing two people and wounding nine.
Drone footage shows thousands of Palestinians waiting to return to northern Gaza Strip – videoUS President Donald Trump meanwhile suggested that most of Gaza’s population be at least temporarily resettled elsewhere, including in Egypt and Jordan, to “just clean out” the war-ravaged territory. Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinians rejected that, amid fears that Israel might never allow refugees to return.
Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim said Palestinians would never accept such a proposal, “even if seemingly well-intentioned under the guise of reconstruction”. He said the Palestinians can rebuild Gaza “even better than before” if Israel lifts its blockade.
Israeli forces fired on the crowds on three occasions overnight and into Sunday, killing two people and wounding nine, including a child, according to Al-Awda hospital, which received the casualties.
Israel’s military in a statement said it fired warning shots at “several gatherings of dozens of suspects who were advancing toward the troops and posed a threat to them”.
Israel has pulled back from several areas of Gaza under the ceasefire, which came into effect last Sunday. The military has warned people to stay away from its forces, which still operate in a buffer zone inside Gaza along the border and in the Netzarim corridor.
Hamas freed four female Israeli soldiers on Saturday, and Israel released 200 Palestinian prisoners, most of whom were serving life sentences after being convicted of deadly attacks. But Israel said civilian hostage Yehoud should have been released ahead of the soldiers.
Israel also accused Hamas of failing to provide details on the conditions of hostages set to be freed in the remaining five weeks of the ceasefire’s first phase.
Hamas said it had told mediators – the US, Egypt and Qatar – that Yehoud was alive and provided guarantees that she would be released.
Frustration grew among the Palestinians waiting to go north as some warmed around bonfires against the winter cold. “We have been in agony for a year and a half,” said Nadia Qasem.
Fadi al-Sinwar, also displaced from Gaza City, said “the fate of more than a million people is linked to one person,” referring to Yehoud. “See how valuable we are? We are worthless,” he said.
The ceasefire is aimed at ending the 15-month war triggered by Hamas’ 7 October 2023 attack and freeing hostages still held in Gaza in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. About 90 hostages are still in Gaza, and Israeli authorities believe at least a third, and up to half, have died.
Itzik Horn, the father of hostages Iair and Eitan Horn, called any resumption of fighting “a death sentence for the hostages” and criticised government ministers who want the war to go on.
The ceasefire’s first phase runs until early March and includes the release of 33 hostages and nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. The second – and far more difficult – phase, has yet to be negotiated. Hamas has said it will not release the remaining hostages without an end to the war, while Israel has threatened to resume its offensive until Hamas is destroyed.
Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people in the 7 October attack, mostly civilians, and abducted about 250. More than 100 were freed during a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023. Israeli forces have rescued eight living hostages and recovered the remains of dozens more, at least three of them mistakenly killed by Israeli forces. Seven have been freed in the latest ceasefire.
Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry. It does not say how many of the dead were combatants. The Israeli military says it has killed more than 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.
Israeli bombardment and ground operations have flattened wide swaths of Gaza and displaced about 90% of its population of 2.3 million people. Many who have returned home since the ceasefire began have found only mounds of rubble.