North Gaza faces food crisis as more Palestinians return

Palestinians in their droves continued to make their way to northern Gaza on Tuesday after they were allowed to return to their homes for the first time in over a year amid the ongoing ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. 

Around 300,000 Palestinians have now made their way back to the enclave’s northern area from the recently opened Netzarim corridor, following 15 months of displacement, war and Israeli atrocities.

Gazans, however, are being met with a food crisis due to a lack of resources and the overwhelming number of those displaced returning to the area.

Many returnees have expressed the need for more bakeries, as they have been waiting for hours just to receive one loaf of bread. They are also urging relief agencies to do more in a bit to sustain those who have returned to north Gaza.

“We are facing grave difficulties getting a loaf of bread, simply because the massive numbers of displaced citizens returning have caused a crisis,” one man told Al Jazeera.

On Monday, aid groups voiced concern over the challenges which lay ahead to adequately assist Palestinians who are now back in northern Gaza, as many will likely come back to homes reduced to rubble, with little to no resources, and a lack of necessities such as food and clean water.

NGOs such as Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) have pledged to support Palestinians as soon as access to Gaza is improved, due to the blockade imposed by Israel on the enclave.

Gaza to ‘remain Palestinian’, Hamas says

The ceasefire, which began to take hold on 19 January, is still in its first phase and entails a halt to Israel’s military onslaught and the release of Israeli captives and hundreds of Palestinian detainees.

Hamas’ spokesperson, Sami Abu Zuhri, said that mediators have “begun testing both sides’ readiness” to discuss the second phase of the ceasefire and that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “no choice” but to move forward with the agreement “until the end”.

The second phase of the deal has yet to be hammered out, and negotiations on its requirements are due to take place on the 16th of the current phase.

If it goes ahead, Hamas will release the remaining captives – mostly male Israelis – and a number of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails will also be freed.

Abu Zuhri also stressed that Israel’s talks of resuming its war in Gaza are “just empty”, and that a post-war Gaza will remain “purely a Palestinian matter”, amid Israel’s desires to remove Hamas completely from the picture, as well as the Palestinian Authority.

“Gaza does not suffer from an administrative vacuum, and we welcome the formation of a government agreed upon by the Palestinians,” he added on Telegram on Monday.

Eight of the remaining 26 captives set to be released by Hamas during the first phase of the ceasefire have been confirmed dead, by both the group and the Israeli government.

A spokesperson for the government said that Hamas had provided a list on Sunday night, but the identity of those dead has not been revealed. Their families, however, have been informed.

At least seven Israeli captives have now been released, while over 290 Palestinian prisoners – many of them held for years without charge – have been freed.

Arbel Yehud, one of the Israeli female captives slated for release over the weekend, said in a new video published by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group that she will be released on Thursday instead.

In the video, Yehud said she was okay and hat she missed her family and was looking forward to returning home.

Meanwhile, in Israel, far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich had threatened to quit the Netanyahu cabinet on Monday if the army doesn’t resume its war in Gaza, according to Israeli media cited by Reuters.

Smotrich, alongside fellow far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, has been a long-proponent of the Gaza war and encouraged the killing of Palestinians as well as the settlement of Israelis in the Strip.

He expectedly opposed the ceasefire, calling it a “defeat for Israel”. 

Israel’s Yediot Ahronoth said on Tuesday that Netanyahu has asked Smotrich to remain in his coalition to keep the right-wing government “intact”.

Raids continue in the West Bank

The Israeli army is continuing its widespread military assault on the occupied West Bank for the eighth consecutive day, carrying out raids and imposing tight sieges.

The army has been raiding Jenin, located in the northern West Bank for over a week, as well as Tulkarem and its Nur Shams refugee camp, since Monday.

Israeli forces have forcibly expelled Palestinians from their residencies in Tulkarem and the camp, turning their homes into military barracks and ordering not to return for a whole week, The New Arab’s sister site, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed said.

Snipers have also been deployed within the camp, while military patrols are present in large areas inside the city, Al-Araby added.

One house, belonging to the al-Shaheen family, was also burned down, according to the Palestinian official news agency, Wafa.

In Jenin, Israeli forces and their bulldozers continue to destroy homes and other properties in the city, as its Operation Iron Wall’ – which has killed 16 Palestinians including a two-year-old girl – remains ongoing.

Trump reiterates displacing Gazans to Egypt, Jordan

Newly-reelected US President Donald Trump has reiterated his wish to move Gaza’s Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan, saying that he hopes President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi and King Abdullah would “accept” the transfer of the enclave’s population to their countries.

Trump, speaking to reporters on Air Force One on Monday, claimed he had spoken to Sisi and was “sure his friend would help him out”.

“I would like to do it. I wish he would accept some of them. We have helped them a lot and I am sure he would help us as well. He is an old friend of mine in a very tough place in the world. But I think he will do it and I think the King of Jordan will do it as well.”

Asked about his comments, Trump said: “I would like to get them living in an area where they can live without disruption and revolution and violence so much”.

On Tuesday however, a senior Egyptian denied a phone call between Sisi and Trump on Gaza’s Palestinians ever took place, local media reported.

“Any phone call by the President of the Republic is announced in accordance with the custom with heads of state,” an Egyptian source told the Turkish Anadolu agency.

On Sunday, Trump said he wanted to “clean out” the devastated Palestinian territory, provoking widespread outrage from Palestinians and much of the Arab world.