Gaza residents will begin returning to the northern areas of the enclave at 7:00 a.m. local time, Egyptian television channel Al-Qahera al-Ihbariya reported.
According to a source at the Cairo-based Center for Monitoring the Implementation of the Ceasefire Agreement in the Gaza Strip, this primarily concerns those who plan to travel on foot. All of them are expected to use the Al-Rashid Road (located along the Gaza coast) to return to their homes in the northern part of the Palestinian enclave. The road to the northern Gaza Strip will be opened to vehicles at 09:00 local time, the source of the TV channel claims.
On Monday evening, Hamas handed over to the mediators a list of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip that they plan to release in the first phase of the ceasefire agreement in the enclave. The document handed over by the radicals contains “necessary information“ about the hostages, representatives of the movement said.
For its part, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuconfirmedthat it had received from Hamas a list with the details of all the hostages that should be released from the Gaza Strip in the first phase of the agreement. In addition, the authorities of the Jewish state received information that Israeli citizen Arbel Yehud would be released on January 30, along with soldier Agam Berger and “another kidnapped person“, whose name has not yet been disclosed. In exchange, Israeli troops will allow Gazans to move to the northern part of the enclave, starting on the morning of January 27.
On the evening of January 15, the Prime Minister of Qatar announced that, as a result of the mediation efforts of Doha, Cairo and Washington, Israel and Hamas had reached an agreement on the release of hostages held in Gaza and the introduction of a ceasefire in the strip. During the first phase, which will last 42 days, Hamas will release 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons.
On January 25, four hostages held in the enclave who had served in the Israel Defense Forces returned home from Gaza. In turn, Israel released 200 Palestinian prisoners, 114 of whom arrived in the West Bank, 16 returned to Gaza, and the remaining 70 were deported to Egypt, where they were greeted by representatives of the Hamas leadership.