Israeli Occupation Forces Shoot Palestinians Waiting to Return Homes in Gaza

Gaza, MINA – Israeli occupation forces opened fire on a group of displaced Palestinians in Gaza on Sunday, wounding five, including a child, as they waited for permission to return home in accordance with the ceasefire agreement, Palestine Chronicle reported.

Five Palestinians, including a child, were injured on Sunday by Israeli occupation forces who opened fire on a group of displaced people on Al-Rashid Street in central Gaza.

The incident occurred as they were waiting for permission to return to Gaza and the northern Gaza province, in accordance with the ceasefire agreement.

Medical sources at Al-Awda Hospital in Al-Nuseirat refugee camp, in central Gaza, reported that five wounded Palestinians arrived at the hospital, after being shot by Israeli forces while gathering on Al-Rashid Street in Taba Al-Nuwiri, west of the camp.

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Al-Jazeera quoted eyewitnesses as reporting that hundreds of displaced Palestinians spent the night outdoors in freezing conditions in Taba Al-Nuwiri, the last accessible point west of the border before moving towards the northern Gaza Governorate.

They reportedly said that Israeli military vehicles stationed on the Netzarim axis, which separates the northern and southern parts of the Gaza Strip, opened fire towards Palestinians gathered in the area.

Palestinians are waiting for Israeli soldiers to withdraw from the axis to allow them to return to Gaza and the north, as agreed in the ceasefire.

In recent hours, the case of Israeli prisoner Arbel Yehud in Gaza has escalated tensions, threatening the continuation of the ceasefire.

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Tel Aviv showed its stubbornness, linking its release to the return of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to northern Gaza.

A statement issued by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said, “Israel will not allow the residents of Gaza to return to the north of the Gaza Strip until Arbel Yehuda, who is still being held by Palestinian factions, is released.”

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas said in a statement that Israel “is fully responsible for obstructing the implementation of the agreement.”

The movement stressed that it “continues to cooperate with the mediators regarding the occupation’s prevention of the return of displaced people from the south to the north, which is a violation and a breach of the ceasefire agreement.”

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“The occupation stopped under the pretext of Arbel Yehuda being held captive, despite the fact that the movement had informed the mediators that he was alive and had provided all the necessary guarantees for his release,” the statement added.

On January 19, 2025, a ceasefire agreement in Gaza began, including a prisoner exchange between Hamas and Israel, brokered by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States.

The agreement consists of three phases, each lasting 42 days.

The war on Gaza, which began on October 7, 2023, has displaced millions, leaving behind destruction and one of the worst humanitarian crises in recent history.

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Between October 2023 and January 2025, Israel’s attacks on Gaza resulted in more than 158,000 deaths and injuries, the vast majority of them women and children, with more than 14,000 people still missing. []

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)

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