Two Palestinians, including a child, have been killed and many wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza amid an agreed ceasefire as thousands of people continued to return to the northern part of the besieged enclave.
Five-year-old Nadia Mohammed al-Amoudi was killed and three people were wounded after the Israeli army shelled a horse cart late on Monday in al-Jisr, west of the Nuseirat refugee camp, the Wafa news agency reported.
Separately, Wafa also reported that a Palestinian man was killed and several people wounded after Israeli forces bombed a bulldozer as it was attempting to remove a vehicle stuck in Nuseirat.
These mark the latest incidents of displaced Palestinians being attacked as they try to return to their homes in the war-torn coastal enclave amid an ongoing three-stage ceasefire agreement signed between Hamas and Israel, which went into effect on January 19.
The Israeli army said in a statement an aircraft “fired to repel suspicious vehicles” in central Gaza that were moving north in an area that is “not approved for passage according to the agreement”. The statement added that Israeli forces also fired on a Palestinian man in north Gaza who “posed a threat to them”.
Since the ceasefire began on January 19, several violations by the Israeli army have been reported in Gaza.
Last week, heavy fire from Israeli tanks around the Karem Abu Salem crossing, known as Kerem Shalom to Israelis, east of Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, was also reported.
In addition, Israeli gunfire also wounded a fisherman near the coast and an Israeli drone wounded another civilian inside Gaza.
Return to northern Gaza continues
The attacks come as Palestinians continued to make their way back to northern Gaza after Israeli forces opened the Netzarim Corridor on Monday following a two-day delay.
Gaza’s Government Media Office said “more than 300,000 displaced” have crossed from southern Gaza into the north.
“Welcome to Gaza,” read a newly erected banner hanging above a dirt road in front of a collapsed building in Gaza City.
“This is the happiest day of my life,” said Lamees al-Iwady, a 22-year-old who returned to Gaza City after being displaced several times.
“I feel as though my soul and life have returned to me. We will rebuild our homes, even if it’s with mud and sand.”
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Salah al-Din Street in Gaza, said people continued to pour into the north for a second straight day, waiting in “very long queues” for hours, despite knowing the devastation that awaits them.
“People who already crossed to the north had already informed their family members and people they know here that they are going back to a wasteland,” Mahmoud reported. “It doesn’t have anything left at all … it doesn’t have any basic necessities to sustain their life there.”
Nevertheless, some Palestinians remained in a defiant mood, with one man returning north saying he was determined to rebuild his home “brick by brick, wall by wall”.
“I am returning home, I know my home has been flattened, I am grieving the loved ones I lost but we are telling the whole world: We are holding steadfast to our home soil, to our homeland,” he told Al Jazeera.
Another Palestinian returning to northern Gaza said: “I have been waiting in this long queue since the early hours of the morning. We are all here trying to get bread. I hope the relief agencies set up more bakeries. With so many people waiting, it will take hours only to get a loaf of bread.”
Palestinians returning to northern Gaza came face to face with the extent of destruction wrought by more than a year of war. Gaza’s Government Media Office said 135,000 tents and caravans are needed in Gaza City and the north to shelter returning families.
