{"id":116644,"date":"2025-10-12T03:19:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T03:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/116644\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T03:19:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T03:19:13","slug":"gazans-begin-trek-back-to-ruined-homes-as-preparations-begin-for-release-of-hostages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/116644\/","title":{"rendered":"Gazans begin trek back to ruined homes as preparations begin for release of hostages"},"content":{"rendered":"

A huge column of people filed on foot north along the coastal road overlooking sandy beaches towards Gaza City, the enclave\u2019s biggest urban area, which had been under attack just days ago in one of Israel\u2019s biggest offensives of the war.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank God my house is still standing,\u201d Ismail Zayda (40) said in the Sheikh Radwan district of Gaza City. \u201cBut the place is destroyed, my neighbours\u2019 houses are destroyed, entire districts have gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff was in Gaza early Saturday to observe the Israeli military redeployment, Israeli Army Radio reported, citing a security source.<\/p>\n

He was joined by the head of the US military’s Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper, who said in a statement that his visit was part of the establishment of a task force that would support stabilisation efforts in Gaza, though US troops would not be deployed inside the enclave.<\/p>\n

In the south, people picked their way through the dusty moonscape that was once Gaza\u2019s second-largest city, Khan Younis, which Israeli forces razed this year. Most walked in silence.<\/p>\n

A middle-aged man, Ahmed al-Brim, was pushing a bicycle with bundles of scrap timber tied to the front and back: his family would need the firewood to cook. It was all they had been able to recover from the ruins of their home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went to our area. It was exterminated. We don\u2019t know where we will go after that,\u201d he said. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t get the furniture, or clothes, or anything, not even winter clothes. Nothing is left.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Israeli military said the ceasefire agreement had been activated at noon local time.<\/p>\n

The first phase of US president Donald Trump\u2019s plan to end the war between Israel and the Hamas militant group gives Israeli troops 24 hours to pull from positions in urban areas, although they will still hold more than half of Gaza.<\/p>\n

\"US<\/p>\n

US president Donald Trump. Photo: AP<\/p>\n

Israeli police said they were preparing for Mr Trump\u2019s visit on Monday that officials said would include a speech to the Knesset, Israel\u2019s parliament, the first by a US president since George W Bush in 2008.<\/p>\n

Mr Trump said he would head to the region tomorrow, perhaps to attend a signing ceremony in Egypt. Axios, citing four sources with knowledge of the matter, reported yesterday he plans to convene world leaders for a summit on Gaza while in Egypt.<\/p>\n

The next phase of Mr Trump\u2019s plan calls for an international body \u2013 the \u201cBoard of Peace\u201d \u2013 to play a role in Gaza\u2019s post-war administration. The plan calls for Mr Trump to lead it and includes former UK prime minister Tony Blair.<\/p>\n

In a televised address, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his forces were staying in Gaza to ensure Hamas was disarmed: \u201cIf this is achieved the easy way, then that will be good, and if not, then it will be achieved the hard way.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the day wore on and it became clear troops were no longer blocking the roads into cities, an initial trickle turned into a flood of Palestinians returning from makeshift tented camps to the homes they had left behind.<\/p>\n

\"Palestinians<\/p>\n

Palestinians inspect a damaged armoured personnel carrier left behind by Israeli forces amid destroyed buildings in Gaza City. Photo: AP<\/p>\n

Today’s News in 90 Seconds, Saturday October 11<\/p>\n

Mahdi Saqla (40) said his family had decided to set off north towards Gaza City as soon as they heard the news of the ceasefire. \u201cOf course there are no homes \u2013 they\u2019ve been destroyed,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we are happy just to return to where our homes were, even over the rubble. That too is a great joy. For two years, we\u2019ve been suffering, displaced from place to place.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Keep to the agreement and ensure your safety<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Israel\u2019s government ratified the ceasefire with Hamas in the early hours of yesterday. Once Israeli troops have pulled back, Hamas has 72 hours to release the 20 living Israeli hostages it is still holding. Israel will free 250 Palestinians serving long terms in its prisons and 1,700 detainees captured during the war. Hundreds of trucks per day are expected to surge into Gaza carrying food and medical aid.<\/p>\n

Israeli military spokesperson Brigadier General Effie Defrin urged residents of Gaza to avoid entering areas under Israeli military control: \u201cKeep to the agreement and ensure your safety,\u201d he said yesterday.<\/p>\n

Israelis and Palestinians alike rejoiced after the deal was announced, to end two years of war in which over 67,000 Palestinians have been killed, and to return the last hostages seized by Hamas in the deadly attack that provoked it.<\/p>\n

\"Tony<\/p>\n

Tony Blair<\/p>\n

The exiled Gaza chief of Hamas, Khalil Al-Hayya, said he had received guarantees from the US and other mediators that the war was over.<\/p>\n

During the Hamas-led attack on Israeli communities and a music festival on October 7, 2023, fighters killed 1,200 people and captured 251 hostages.<\/p>\n

Twenty hostages are still believed to be alive in Gaza, while 26 are presumed dead and the fate of two is unknown. Hamas has indicated that recovering the bodies of the dead may take longer than releasing those who are alive.<\/p>\n

The accord, if fully implemented, would bring the two sides closer than any previous effort to halt the war. Much could still go wrong. Further steps in Mr Trump\u2019s 20-point plan have yet to be agreed. Those include how the demolished Gaza Strip is to be ruled when fighting ends, and the ultimate fate of Hamas, which has rejected Israel\u2019s demands it disarm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A huge column of people filed on foot north along the coastal road overlooking sandy beaches towards Gaza…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116645,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[7407,9,10,356,13,14,68,69,6,71,11,12,15,16,5,72,7,8,1543,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-116644","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-benjamin-netanyahu","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-breakingnews","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-featured-news","13":"tag-featurednews","14":"tag-gaza","15":"tag-hamas","16":"tag-headlines","17":"tag-israel","18":"tag-latest-news","19":"tag-latestnews","20":"tag-main-news","21":"tag-mainnews","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-palestine","24":"tag-top-stories","25":"tag-topstories","26":"tag-usa","27":"tag-world","28":"tag-world-news","29":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}