Jerusalem. Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians began their long journey on foot to return to the ruins of their homes after the ceasefire went into effect at noon yesterday and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) completed their withdrawal to the deployment lines agreed upon within the peace plan promoted by US President Donald Trump.
Approximately 200,000 people marched north along the coastal highway to Gaza City, the largest urban area in the enclave, where one of Israel's most aggressive offensives since the start of the occupation took place, a civil defense spokesman said.
“Thank God, my house is still standing,” said Ismail Zayda, a 40-year-old Palestinian resident of Gaza City. “The place is destroyed, my neighbors’ houses were demolished, entire neighborhoods have disappeared.”
In the south, people made their way through the dusty landscape of what was once the second largest city, Khan Yunis, razed to the ground by Tel Aviv's army.
Rescue teams said at least 55 bodies were recovered from the rubble in Gaza City.
The IDF announced that its troops have begun positioning themselves along the"lines of withdrawal, in preparation for the ceasefire agreement and the return of hostages," but indicated that some areas remain "extremely dangerous."
The Gaza Civil Defense confirmed that Israeli troops and armored vehicles withdrew from forward positions in both Gaza City and Khan Yunis.
The withdrawal triggered a 72-hour deadline for the Islamic resistance movement to release the remaining hostages in exchange for 250 Palestinian prisoners serving long sentences and another 1,700 arrested by Tel Aviv forces since October 2023, as outlined in Trump's 20-point peace plan.
Israel has published a list of the 250"security detainees" who would be exchanged for the hostages, which does not include any of the emblematic figures of the Palestinian armed struggle.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) evacuated two newborns from a hospital in the north of the enclave to reunite with their parents further south, after suspending an initial attempt on Thursday due to the Israeli siege."We had 18 babies in incubators at the beginning of the week. Two were transferred yesterday," said UNICEF spokesman Ricardo Pires in Geneva.
In this context, humanitarian organizations have coined a heartbreaking acronym: WCNSF, “Wounded Child, No Surviving Family,” The Guardian reported. There is no data on how many children without parents were injured, but Gaza is known to have the highest rate of childhood amputations of any modern conflict, the outlet said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has assured that the IDF will remain in the Gaza Strip to maintain pressure on Hamas to disarm and demilitarize the Palestinian territory.
Meanwhile, in the reoccupied West Bank, the IDF carried out new incursions yesterday in Nablus, which the previous night was the scene of an assault by Jewish settlers that left at least seven Palestinians injured.
