Hamas has repeatedly claimed that as part of the ceasefire agreement, Israeli forces were to withdraw from Netzarim on Saturday, during the second hostage-prisoner swap, and allow displaced Gazans from to return to the north.
Among those trying to return Saturday was Samia Helles, a 26-year-old from Gaza City.
She told AFP that she had travelled with her three children to be among the first back.
“So far, I don’t know whether my house is still standing or destroyed. I don’t know if my mother is alive or dead. I haven’t been able to contact her for a month,” she said.
Jibril al-Jumla, 39, said he has been “here with my wife, three daughters and four sons” since Friday, waiting to cross to the north.
“We were displaced in October 2023 to Khan Yunis and moved several times from there. We lived a life of humiliation, hunger, fear and terror.”
