After 735 days of war, a truce has been reached in Gaza . With the IDF's withdrawal complete following the ceasefire ratified by the Israeli government, a human tide has begun moving from the southern Strip toward Gaza City .
Thousands of families headed towards the city, as images on social media show.
Gaza's Civil Defense Department reported that around 200,000 people have returned to the northern Palestinian territory since the ceasefire came into effect, despite the Israeli military warning that several areas remain "extremely dangerous" for the civilian population.
The IDF will continue to maintain control of 53% of the Gaza Strip . The truce will be monitored by a joint task force of 200 US troops and troops from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, and possibly the UAE.
The release of the 20 live hostages in exchange for 1,950 Palestinian prisoners, among whom Barghouti will not be, will be "Monday or Tuesday."
At midday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made some statements in a press conference where questions were not permitted: " Hamas accepted the agreement only when it felt the water was up to its neck. And the sword is still there . Hamas accepted the agreement after the Trump plan, which I agreed on with the president in Washington, isolated it internationally in an unprecedented way," he said.
"We are pressing Hamas on all sides in preparation for the next phases of the plan," he added, "which includes its complete disarmament and the demilitarization of Gaza. If this is achieved peacefully, so much the better. If not, it will be achieved by force ."
"Today," the Israeli Prime Minister said, "we celebrate one of the greatest achievements of our war for rebirth: the return of all our hostages—living and dead—home. This was a central objective that we pursued with determination throughout. We made a promise and we kept it. I remind you that, at the beginning of the war, there were those who said, 'We must get used to the idea that we won't be able to get even one hostage back alive.' I thought differently and acted differently."
Netanyahu also responded to those who claim that this agreement could have been reached earlier: "That's not true: Hamas never agreed to free all the hostages with the IDF still so deep inside the Strip."
(Unioneonline/L)