Palestinians trying to return to their homes are killed by Israeli troops

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Two weeks of the conflict between Hamas and Islamic Jihad: Israeli blockade of a specific hostage in the Gaza Strip, and Palestinian demands for a Palestinian state

In Gaza, a dispute over Hamas’ return of a specific hostage had led to the Israeli military blocking the return of Palestinian residents to the north of Gaza.

Israeli troops have saved eight hostages, found the bodies of dozens of others, a small number were killed in military operations, and recovered the bodies of eight hostages.

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

Israeli soldiers fired on the large crowds of Gaza residents hoping to return home several times, wounding nine people and killing two others, according to health officials at the nearby Al-Awda Hospital. The military said it had identified a number of gatherings of people who posed a threat to Israeli forces and that it had fired warning shots at them. It said in southern Gaza it had killed a member of another militant group, called Islamic Jihad, who had also posed a threat.

Meanwhile Mohammed al-Hindi, the deputy head of the other major Gaza militant group, Islamic Jihad, told the Arabic news channel Al Jazeera that the group accepted Yehud would be released before next Saturday, “to remove the pretext” that it said Israel has put forward to block the return of residents to northern Gaza.

A senior military official in Hamas, who issues statements under a nom du guerre, Abu Ahmed, said the mediators — the U.S., Qatar and Egypt — had been given guarantees that Yehud was “alive and in good health.”

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Hsafadi said on social media that his country’s “rejection of displacement is fixed and unchangeable.” In a statement from the president’s office, they denounced any projects that would cause the displacement of the people from the Gaza Strip and urged Trump to concentrate on achieving peace and establishing a Palestinian state.

Egypt has previously pushed back on such a suggestion, and both the Jordanian government, the Palestinian Authority and militant groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad rejected the suggestion, as did Arab-Israeli lawmakers.

Israel complies with a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Hezbollah, and the tensions between the Gaza Strip and Lebanon

Lebanese emergency officials said more than 120 were injured and 22 people killed. Israeli military leaders said their soldiers had fired shots to warn “suspects” not to approach Israeli positions.

Israel has pulled its forces out of Gaza under the terms of the truce that took effect on January 19.

Hamas was accused by Israel of violating the ceasefire by not releasing hostages in a timely fashion, resulting in Israeli troops blocking people from going back to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile in southern Lebanon, a 60-day ceasefire agreement that the U.S. helped broker in November, which temporarily ended fighting between the Israeli military and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, had expired on Sunday.

Israeli troops shot back at protesters who tried to get past them to go to the remote villages in southern Lebanon that the Israeli troops had not yet left. The health ministry in Lebanon said that 22 people had been killed and over 100 were injured during the shooting.

They will include Yehud, a woman who was at the center of a dispute over her release because Hamas officials insisted she was not an Israeli soldier, as well as other women and children. Agam Berger, a female soldier is also going to be released Thursday. The third hostage’s identity was not made public.

“There was a crisis, we managed to overcome it with good dialogue and conversation,” said Witkoff in comments to reporters in New York. This is a sign that we all need to stay positive.” He was grateful for the help of the Israeli government in resolving the disputes.

The disagreements between Israel and militant groups it has fought for decades highlighted the low levels of trust between the recently warring parties. But last-ditch negotiations involving officials in the Qatari capital Doha, Washington D.C., and elsewhere have managed to keep the ceasefire deals alive, according to President Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff.

The large crowds of people returning to Gaza on foot came as the US and other nations helped preserve the two ceasefire agreements between Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Israeli forces on Monday morning opened the Netzarim corridor that separates north and south Gaza, with crowds in the thousands streaming back to their abandoned homes in the north.