Israeli forces have opened fire on people trying to return to their homes under ceasefire agreements for Lebanon and Gaza, killing more than 20 people in Lebanon and one Palestinian in Gaza.
Israeli authorities also ordered the UN agency for Palestinian refugees to vacate its hub offices in East Jerusalem by Thursday, before a total ban on operations in Israel that could jeopardise aid operations in Gaza at a critical time.
Two separate deals to halt fighting with Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza both included provisions for civilians displaced by fighting to start going back from Sunday. But Israel said it would not allow people to return to either area, accusing Hamas and the Lebanese army of violating key commitments under the two ceasefire deals.
The White House said late Sunday that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to extend the deadline for Israeli troops to depart southern Lebanon until 18 February, after Israel requested more time to withdraw beyond the 60-day deadline stipulated in the ceasefire agreement that halted the Israel-Hezbollah war in late November.
Mediator Qatar meanwhile announced in the early hours of Monday that a deal had been reached to release an Israeli civilian hostage and allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza.
A crowd of thousands had gathered late on Saturday near a main Israeli checkpoint in Gaza, the entrance to a broad military corridor that now cuts the strip in two. They were desperate to see if anything they owned had survived the fighting, or to escape refugee camps and temporary shelters, even if only for tents pitched in the ruins of their former homes.
On Sunday morning they were still waiting, after Israel accused Hamas of violating the terms of the ceasefire deal by delaying the release of hostage Arbel Yehoud. She had been expected to be freed on Saturday, when four soldiers were returned to Israel.
“The fate of more than a million people is linked to one person,” said Fadi al-Sinwar who had been displaced from northern Gaza earlier in the war and was waiting to go back. “See how valuable we are? We are worthless,” he told the Associated Press.
Hamas said it had provided proof Yehoud was alive and accused Israel of using her status as a “pretext” to break the terms of the deal.
In its statement Qatar said Hamas would hand over Yehoud, along with two other hostages before Friday while Israeli authorities would allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza from early on Monday.
In Lebanon, residents had joined civilian convoys before heading to border villages, despite warnings by the Israeli military that doing so would “expose them to danger”.
Israeli forces opened fire on protesters trying to reach villages, killing at least 22 people, including a Lebanese soldier and six women, and injuring 124, according to Lebanon’s ministry of health. Several people were also arrested by Israeli forces.
Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that the Lebanese state had not yet “fully enforced” a deal to secure the south, meant to ensure that Hezbollah withdrew beyond the Litani River. The Israeli prime minister said Israel’s military presence would be extended beyond the 60 days initially agreed as a result.
Videos showed tense face-offs between Israeli soldiers and tanks and Lebanese crowds waving banners and chanting slogans. One woman stood a few metres from Israeli troops, who fired warning shots at the ground in front of her as she shouted: “Go back to your country! Go back to your family!”
Others, including women and children, hoisted Hezbollah flags in front of Israeli tanks and carried pictures of Hassan Nasrallah, the former Hezbollah leader killed by Israel in September.
Joseph Aoun, the Lebanese president, said on Sunday that “Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are non-negotiable” and that he was following up on the issue to ensure Lebanese citizens’ rights and dignity.
Lebanese soldiers accompanied civilian protesters in border villages, walking alongside them in an attempt to protect them from Israeli fire. In villages on the eastern portion of the border, Lebanese soldiers attempted to block residents from returning for their safety.
Sunday’s protests were the first time that many civilians had entered their villages along the Lebanese-Israeli border since Israel announced its operation in south Lebanon in September.
Satellite analysis showed that many villages along the border had been flattened by Israeli detonations. Israel said the attacks were to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure. Critics accused Israel of trying to create a buffer zone to protect its north, by making adjoining parts of Lebanon uninhabitable.
Returning residents said they were shocked at the level of destruction that greeted them when they checked on their homes. Rita Darwish, a resident of the western border village of Dheira, found her house in ruins on Sunday. The village was among the dozens that were subject to a series of controlled demolitions by Israeli forces.
“I didn’t see one building still standing. I almost wish I didn’t come back to see the village. There is no end to the sadness and pain,” Darwish said. She shared a video of her home, which had collapsed entirely, and her belongings, which were scattered among the rubble.
Residents of Dheira also returned to find the corpse of Ghadieh Sweid, an elderly woman who refused to leave the village despite Israel’s incursion in late September. Her body was found lying in her home. It is not known when she died.
Despite the ceasefire agreement, Israel has carried out more than 350 airstrikes across Lebanon, which it said were aimed at stopping Hezbollah activity. The Hezbollah MP Ali Fayyad said this week that if Israel did not withdraw by 26 January, that “it will mean the collapse of the ceasefire deal”.
Israel’s attempts to shut down Unrwa are likely to add to strains on the ceasefire deal, which includes a provision to increase aid into Gaza.
The agency is the largest provider of aid in the enclave, with a broad network of thousands of employees that cannot be easily replaced. Aid groups have said their work in Gaza will be far more challenging without it.
Unrwa also provide schooling, healthcare and even rubbish collection to Palestinian refugee camps across the West Bank and much of East Jerusalem, with few clear plans about how these vital services might be replaced if abruptly shuttered.
The ban on Unrwa, passed by Israel’s parliament, is due to come into force at the end of the month, the day after the agency had been ordered to vacate its offices in occupied East Jerusalem. Unrwa said it would not leave.
Unrwa said in a statement: “United Nations premises are inviolable and enjoy privileges and immunities under the United Nations charter,” adding that as a member state Israel was bound by these obligations.
“Claims from the Israeli authorities that Unrwa has no right to occupy the premises are without foundation. They promote anti-Unrwa rhetoric, placing the agency’s facilities and personnel at risk.”
There have been repeated attacks on the UN agency, particularly centred on their premises in East Jerusalem. Last May there was an arson attack on the premises, by a crowd that Unrwa said included armed men chanting ‘burn down the United Nations’.
