BBC:
Israeli troops have withdrawn from the Netzarim Corridor – a military zone cutting off the north of the Gaza Strip from the south.
Hundreds of Palestinians in cars and on carts laden with mattresses and other goods began returning to northern Gaza following the pull-out – often to scenes of utter destruction.
The Israeli withdrawal is in line with the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement of 19 January under which 16 Israeli hostages and 566 Palestinian prisoners have so far been freed.
By the end of the first stage of the ceasefire in three weeks’ time, 33 hostages and 1,900 prisoners are expected to have been freed. Israel says eight of the 33 are dead.
Hamas seized 251 hostages and killed about 1,200 people when it attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, triggering the Gaza war.
At least 48,189 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry. About two-thirds of Gaza’s buildings have been damaged or destroyed by Israel’s attacks, the UN says.
On Sunday, crowds of Palestinians were seen traversing the Netzarim Corridor – mostly moving north to see what had happened to their abandoned homes.
“What we saw was a catastrophe, horrific destruction. The [Israeli] occupation destroyed all the homes, shops, farms, mosques, universities and the courthouse,” Osama Abu Kamil, a resident of al-Maghraqa just north of Netzarim, told the AFP news agency.
The 57-year-old, who had been forced to live for more than a year in the southern Gazan city of Khan Yunis, said he now planned to “set up a tent for me and my family next to the rubble of our house”.
“We have no choice,” he added.
Mahmoud al-Sarhi, another displayed Palestinian, told AFP that for him “arriving at the Netzarim Corridor meant death until this morning”.
He said this was “the first time I saw our destroyed house”, referring to his home in the nearby Zeitun area.
“The entire area is in ruins. I cannot live here,” he added.
About 700,000 residents of northern Gaza fled to southern areas at the start of the war, when the Israeli military issued mass evacuation orders before launching a ground invasion of the Palestinian territory.
Many of those displaced were subsequently forced to move multiple times after Israeli forces pushed into southern Gaza, too.
They were also prevented from returning to their homes through the Netzarim Corridor, stretching from the Gaza-Israel border to the Mediterranean Sea.
Israeli forces partially withdrew from the west of the corridor last month and the first Palestinians – pedestrians – were allowed to walk along the coastal Rashid Street as they crossed into northern Gaza.
Those on vehicles have to use Salah al-Din Street and undergo screening for weapons by US and Egyptian security contractors.
The Israel Defense Forces have not officially commented on Sunday’s withdrawal from the eastern part of the corridor, which will leave it in control of Gaza’s borders, but not the road that had cut it in half.
The Haaretz newspaper says the Hamas-run Gaza interior ministry has been urging people to “exercise caution and adhere to the existing movement guidelines for their safety”.
