- Palestinians return to their Northern Gaza ruined homes amid anger over Donald Trump’s comments suggesting Palestinians should be removed from Gaza
Thousands of Palestinians will return to their homes in northern Gaza today.
Tens of thousands of people had, up to now, been blocked from returning to northern Gaza after Israel refused to open checkpoints – claiming Hamas had breached the ceasefire agreement.
But Israel has now allowed the movement of those displaced after Hamas announced it would release another round of hostages on Thursday, including Arbel Yehoud.
Israel had insisted that Yehoud be released on Saturday because she is a woman, a civilian and alive, and therefore should have been in the top category of hostages freed, according to the agreement.
When she wasn’t, the checkpoints remained closed.
As well as Yehoud, who was expected to be released yesterday, two more hostages including soldier Agam Berger will be released, according to the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Pics: Reuters
Meanwhile, there has been backlash over comments by President Donald Trump suggesting the Gaza Strip should be cleared out.
The US President said Jordan and Egypt should take in Palestinians from Gaza, adding: “You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say: ‘You know, it’s over.'”
Asked for a reaction to the comments, a German Foreign Ministry Spokesperson said Berlin shared the view of “the European Union, our Arab partners, the United Nations … that the Palestinian population must not be expelled from Gaza and Gaza must not be permanently occupied or recolonised by Israel.”
Jordan is already home to several million Palestinians and tens of thousands live in Egypt.
Both countries and other Arab nations reject the idea of Palestinians being moved out of Gaza as that is the land they would want as part of any future state.
Responses from even his own allies indicated they were confused by what he said, and foreign governments have pushed back following the remarks.
Human rights groups have also expressed grave concern over his proposal.
Omar Shakir, the Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch, said Trump’s proposal, if implemented, “would amount to an alarming escalation in the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people and exponentially increase their suffering.”
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor described them as “deeply concerning” and said the plan would be a violation of the Geneva Convention.
Written with reports from Sky News