Displaced Palestinians Trek Home to Northern Gaza as Israel-Hamas Cease-Fire Holds: Live Updates

Many of those returning had spent the war sheltering in tents, after Israel ordered roughly a million people to flee northern Gaza in October 2023 ahead of its military invasion and then prevented their return. On Monday, some used bikes, wheelchairs and trolleys to carry their belongings. One man attached wheels to a plastic box, turning it into a makeshift stroller for a baby.

On Saturday, Hamas released four female Israeli soldiers who had been taken hostage on Oct. 7, 2023. Israel, in turn, handed over 200 Palestinian prisoners. But on Sunday, their week-old truce appeared to waver. Israel said it would delay the return of displaced people to northern Gaza, as required by the cease-fire agreement, partly because Hamas had reneged on a plan to release Arbel Yehud, a female Israeli civilian who was seized during the Hamas-led assault on Israel in October 2023.

After hours of tense negotiations, the two sides reached a new agreement late Sunday under which Hamas would hand over Ms. Yehud, along with other hostages, by the end of the week. In exchange, Israeli forces began allowing displaced Palestinians to move north on Monday morning, opening the coastal road to people on foot and a second, interior road to vehicles, which were subject to inspection.

Here’s what else to know:

• Violence in Lebanon: Israeli forces opened fire for a second straight day as residents of southern Lebanon sought to return to their homes along the border, Lebanese officials said. At least two people were injured, officials said, after at least two dozen people were killed and scores injured in Israeli fire on Sunday. Israeli forces, who have warned against returning to border areas without their approval, have remained in southern Lebanon as a 60-day truce with the Lebanese militia Hezbollah was extended on Sunday until Feb. 18.

• Fragile truces: Though Israel’s cease-fires in Gaza and Lebanon were tested over the weekend, analysts said that all sides wanted to avoid full-scale fighting for now.

• Displaced Palestinians: President Trump told reporters that he would like Jordan and Egypt to take in more displaced Palestinians as part of an effort to “clean out” Gaza. Egypt and Jordan rejected the suggestion, saying the only way forward was Palestinian statehood.

• Show of force: The carefully choreographed release of Israeli hostages on Saturday highlighted how powerful Hamas remains inside Gaza, even after Israel killed thousands of its members and demolished much of its infrastructure.

Lebanon’s health ministry says at least one person has been killed and seven others injured by Israeli fire in southern Lebanon, amid renewed attempts by Lebanese residents on Monday to reach southern border towns still controlled by the Israeli military.

Diplomats had hoped that an extension of the 60-day cease-fire agreement on Sunday would stave off the violence, but it appears to have done little to prevent displaced Lebanese from trying to go home despite Israeli warnings to keep away.

The joyous mood belied the suffering of 15 months of war. More than 46,000 people were killed and 100,000 people injured in Gaza, according to health officials in the enclave. The war has displaced the majority of Gaza’s 2.2 million people, many of them multiple times, and hundreds of thousands of people have been living in makeshift shelters.

As they returned north, many people brought household goods and a few other essentials. One teenager carried a large bowl on his head that had been piled high with cooking utensils including pots and pans. To make the load easier to carry, he had balanced the bowl on a pillow.

Col. Avi Benov, a physcian who is deputy chief of the Israeli military’s medical corps, has just briefed reporters about the return of hostages from Gaza. He said that several of the Israeli women who were released from captivity in recent days had spent the past eight months underground in Hamas tunnels without seeing sunlight.

The women who have been returned so far — three civilians and four soldiers — were all suffering effects of “mild starvation” and low vitamin levels, Benov said. Some still have shrapnel in their bodies from the Hamas-led assault on Oct. 7, 2023, when they were abducted to Gaza, he added.

The Israeli military said on Monday that it had redeployed in areas of southern Lebanon, and repeated calls for Lebanese residents to wait for their approval before returning home. The Lebanese military had sent reinforcements to parts of southern Lebanon earlier in the day, preparing to enter some towns and safeguard civilians, Lebanon’s state-run news agency reported.

Israeli forces killed at least 24 people and injured over 134 others on Sunday, Lebanese officials said, after thousands of Lebanese marched to southern towns and villages. Those areas remain occupied by Israel past a 60-day deadline for its withdrawal under the November cease-fire agreement, which called for both Israel and Hezbollah forces to leave southern Lebanon and for the Lebanese Army and U.N. peacekeepers to deploy in force there.

The Israeli military said in a statement on Sunday that it had fired “warning shots” to disperse what it called “rioters.” Last week, Israel had indicated that it would remain in southern Lebanon despite the deadline, amid doubts about the Lebanese Army’s ability to stymie Hezbollah’s resurgence.

Negotiators had hoped that the U.S.-brokered cease-fire by now would have given way for a more permanent settlement. But as the 60-day deadline elapsed on Sunday, the White House issued a statement stating that the initial agreement would be extended until Feb. 18. The Lebanese prime minister’s office confirmed the extension, which they said followed discussions with U.S. officials. The flurry of diplomatic activity appeared designed to buy time and stave off further bouts of violence.

The bloodshed on Sunday sparked urgent calls for restraint by the U.N. amid growing fears of a sustained Israeli occupation and renewed hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah. Hezbollah, however, stopped short of their characteristic calls for revenge in the wake of the killings.

Battered by the deadliest war with Israel in decades, experts say the group has little impetus to reignite a conflict that would only weaken the group further as it attempts to recover. Instead, Hezbollah called on the international community in a statement to “assume its responsibilities” and pressure Israel to “withdraw completely from our lands.”

As residents began returning to northern Gaza, Israeli forces have reportedly opened fire for a second day on Lebanese attempting to return to their homes in southern Lebanon in defiance of Israeli warnings, according to Lebanon’s state-run news agency. Lebanon’s health ministry said two people were injured, including a child.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Lebanese military sent reinforcements to parts of southern Lebanon earlier in the day, preparing to enter some towns and safeguard civilians attempting to return home, the agency reported.

Awad Abid, a former taxi driver from northern Gaza, said he was waiting a few days to see if he could hitch a ride for his young children, who could not return to the north on foot. Abid is currently living in a tent camp near the southern city of Khan Younis that many people have left over the past several hours.

He said that given the choice, he would prefer to leave Gaza and build a new life. “There are a lot of issues — people whose homes were destroyed and are living in other houses, disputes over property, problems between families that began during their time in Khan Younis,” he said. “This war tore apart our social fabric.”

But even as each side accused the other of reneging on their deals, analysts said, both Israel and its opponents had reasons to remain flexible and temporarily overlook the other’s transgressions.

Hezbollah, though angry at Israel for keeping troops in southern Lebanon, would risk a devastating Israeli counterattack if it renews its rocket strikes on Israeli cities. Hamas wants to retain power in Gaza and risks losing it if war returns. And Israel needs to maintain the current arrangement in Gaza long enough to free at least two dozen more hostages. Israeli leaders have also appeared eager to placate President Trump, who campaigned on a promise to keep peace in the Middle East.

Illustrating their desire to prolong the Gaza truce, Israel and Hamas seemed to resolve the weekend’s crisis close to midnight on Sunday. The government of Qatar, a mediator between the sides, said that the female hostage, Arbel Yehud, would be freed this week along with two others who would be released ahead of schedule. In return, Israel said that it would allow displaced Palestinians to return to northern Gaza on Monday morning.

As for Lebanon, the White House announced that the truce there would be extended until Feb. 18, though there was no immediate comment from Israel or Hezbollah. The Lebanese prime minister’s office confirmed the extension.

Aaron David Miller, a former U.S. negotiator in Middle East peace talks, said, “They’re going to get through the next few weeks — beyond that is anyone’s guess.”

“These are not agreements between the United States and Switzerland. They’re agreements that depend on each side giving the other a certain discretion and margin for maneuver,” he added. “That is their weakness, but also their strength.”

That wriggle room ultimately allowed both truces to survive the weekend, even as Israeli troops shot and killed people in both Lebanon and Gaza who were trying to return to areas still controlled by Israel.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said that 22 people had been killed by Israeli fire in southern Lebanon, and the Palestinian Authority’s news agency said that one person had been killed in Gaza as large crowds in both places gathered near Israeli troops, demanding to go home.

But by Monday morning, the standoff in Gaza appeared set to ease. In Lebanon, Hezbollah issued a statement praising the residents attempting to return and calling on foreign powers to force Israel to withdraw. But Hezbollah did not resume its rocket fire.

Analysts say that Hezbollah is unlikely to risk further losses while its leadership is decimated and its benefactor, Iran, is weakened. Also, the group’s main arms supply route, through Syria, was blocked in December when the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Hezbollah, was ousted by rebels.

Hezbollah’s commanders do “still have some rockets, they have some guns, they can do something,” said Hanin Ghaddar, a Lebanese analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a foreign affairs research group.

“But it’s suicidal if they do this, because they know that any kind of attack by Hezbollah in Israel means that Israel will take the opportunity to come back full blast and annihilate whatever is left of them,” Ms. Ghaddar added.

Hezbollah is also probably wary of losing support among its Shiite Muslim base, particularly in next year’s parliamentary elections, Ms. Ghaddar said. Lebanon’s Shiite community paid the largest price for Hezbollah’s decision to go to war with Israel in October 2023 in solidarity with its ally Hamas. Shiite villages and towns in southern Lebanon bore the brunt of Israel’s ensuing air campaign and ground invasion.

“If the Shia do not vote for them, this is the end of Hezbollah,” said Ms. Ghaddar, the author of a book about Hezbollah’s relationship with its base. “They cannot really do anything if they don’t know 100 percent that the Shia community is going to support it.”

Because Hezbollah is less likely to resume fighting, the Gaza cease-fire is considered the frailest of the two truces.

But its biggest stress test is not expected until the beginning of March, when Hamas and Israel must decide whether to extend the arrangement beyond an initial 42-day truce.

For now, Israel has signaled it wants to maintain the cease-fire to sustain the flow of hostage releases. But an extension would require both sides to agree to a permanent end to the war — a bridge that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has appeared unwilling to cross. Mr. Netanyahu’s coalition government relies on far-right lawmakers who seek permanent Israeli control of Gaza, and his administration could collapse if the war ends with Hamas still in charge.

The terms of the agreement allow for some flexibility. The truce can continue beyond the 42-day mark as long as both sides remain negotiating about whether to make the arrangement permanent.

But Israeli officials say they will not remain locked in endlessly fruitless negotiations, especially if Hamas stops releasing hostages. And Hamas is unlikely to keep freeing the hostages, its main bargaining chip, without an Israeli promise to cease hostilities permanently.

“Hamas wants a cease-fire but not at all costs,” said Mkhaimar Abusada, a Palestinian political scientist from Gaza. “They want a cease-fire that ends the war.”

Much could depend on President Trump’s willingness to cajole Mr. Netanyahu toward a more lasting truce. Mr. Trump’s private messages to the Israeli prime minister were crucial to the forging of the initial phase, but it remains to be seen whether the American president will maintain that position beyond a few weeks.

“If Netanyahu succeeds in convincing Trump of the need to renew the war, there’ll probably be a renewal of the war,” Mr. Abusada said. “If Trump keeps his promise that he doesn’t want any wars and he wants more peace — whether it’s in Gaza, Ukraine or all over the world — that’s a different thing.”

The people on the road are carrying bags, mattresses, duvets — whatever possessions they can carry on their backs. Many are walking on foot, but some are waiting for buses to take them closer to the Netzarim corridor.

As I walked through the town of Deir al Balah to reach the coast, it was hard to move because there were so many displaced people packing up their belongings. People were taking down their tents and loading donkeys with their possessions.