Thousands of Palestinians are returning home to the devastated Gaza Strip

Israeli forces opened the Netzarim corridor that separates north and south Gaza on Monday morning, and thousands streamed back into their abandoned homes in the north.

The scenes of huge crowds returning to Gaza on foot came as the US and Qatar helped maintain two ceasefire agreements – between Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon – both of which threatened to collapse over the weekend.

In Gaza, a dispute over the return of a certain hostage by Hamas led to the Israeli military blocking the return of Palestinian residents to northern Gaza.

In Lebanon the Israeli military had shot at demonstrators who had tried to return to villages in the south of the country, from where Israeli forces were supposed to have evacuated by Sunday.

Disagreements between Israel and militant groups it has fought for decades have highlighted low levels of trust between the recently feuding parties. According to Steve Witkoff, President Trump's special envoy for the Middle East, recent negotiations with officials in the Qatari capital Doha, Washington DC and elsewhere have succeeded in maintaining the ceasefire agreements.

“There was a crisis,” Witkoff told reporters in New York on Sunday evening, “and we managed to overcome it with good dialogue and conversation. This is a sign that we all need to remain positive.” He praised both the Qatari prime minister and the Israeli government for their help in resolving the respective disputes.

Over the weekend, Israeli leaders made the return of displaced Palestinians to the northern Gaza Strip conditional on the immediate release of an Israeli civilian, Arbel Yehud, arguing that the ceasefire agreement stipulated that civilian women should be returned before female soldiers – four of them released on Saturday.

The resolution came after Qatar said it had helped broker the compromise and the Qatari foreign ministry, which helped broker the comprehensive ceasefire agreed two weeks ago, said Hamas would hand over three hostages before Friday.

According to a statement from the Israeli Prime Minister's Office, three hostages held by Hamas since October 7, 2023 will now be released on Thursday – slightly ahead of the previously agreed release date for another three hostages.

They include Yehud, a civilian who became the focus of the dispute this weekend after Hamas officials insisted that she was in fact an Israeli soldier and therefore would not be given priority for release along with other civilian women and children. Agam Berger, a soldier, is also due to be released on Thursday. The identity of the third released hostage was not released.

A Qatari Foreign Ministry statement said Hamas would also provide information on the condition of the remaining 26 Israeli hostages to be released in the first six-week phase of the deal.

Meanwhile, in southern Lebanon, a 60-day ceasefire agreement negotiated by the United States in November that temporarily ended fighting between the Israeli military and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah expired on Sunday.

Israeli troops opened fire on Sunday on protesters who tried to get past them into remote villages in southern Lebanon that Israeli troops had not yet evacuated despite assurances in the ceasefire agreement that they would do so. According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, 22 people were killed and 124 injured in the shooting.

The US has helped monitor the ceasefire in Lebanon and a White House statement said the terms of the agreement had now been extended until February 18. This will give Israeli units more time to give way to advancing Lebanese army troops, replace them and withdraw beyond the existing border between the two countries.

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