Nearly Half a Million People Return to Northern Gaza Amid Ceasefire

Nearly 500,000 displaced Palestinians have returned to northern Gaza since a ceasefire took effect, the United Nations reported on Friday.

Citing data from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that while the majority of movement has been northward, smaller numbers of people continue to relocate to the south. “As of today, about 8,500 people have crossed from northern Gaza to the southern side,” he said during a press briefing.

Humanitarian agencies are ramping up aid efforts to assist those on the move, providing essential services such as first aid and psychological support at designated monitoring points. Special attention is being given to vulnerable groups, including children, women, and the elderly. Aid operations in northern Gaza are also expanding in response to urgent needs.

On Thursday, an OCHA team visited two sites in Gaza City’s South Remal and Tel al-Hawa neighborhoods, where residents reported critical shortages of water, kitchen supplies, bedding, and hygiene products.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis continues to worsen in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces have been conducting military operations in Jenin for the past eleven days. According to Dujarric, ongoing Israeli operations have caused widespread destruction of homes and infrastructure, forcing nearly all of the Jenin refugee camp’s 20,000 residents to flee over the past two months.

The escalation in the West Bank follows a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took effect in Gaza on January 19, ending 15 months of intense conflict. Israel’s military campaign, which began in October 2023, has left over 47,400 Palestinians dead and much of Gaza in ruins.

Tensions within Israel’s government have also heightened, with reports indicating that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the renewed military operations amid pressure from right-wing factions opposing the ceasefire.

Since the outbreak of hostilities, at least 890 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli military operations and settler violence across the occupied West Bank. The UN and humanitarian agencies continue to call for urgent international action to prevent further displacement and loss of life.