Palestinians return to Gaza City as mediators look ahead to next stage

Gaza City, in the north of the enclave, is a shell of the bustling urban centre it was before the war, with swathes of buildings destroyed by Israeli bombardments and piles of rubble and torn-up concrete on every side.

"Look at this scene, there is nothing to say," said a man who gave his name as Abu Mohammad as he searched for a place to settle.

"People will sleep on the ground. There is nothing left."

Many of those returning, often laden with what personal possessions they still have after months of being moved around as the battlegrounds shifted, had trekked 20 kms or more along the coastal highway north.

"I am waiting for my father, mother and brother. We lost them on the way," said Jameel Abed, who walked up from the central area of the Gaza Strip.

"We found some lights here and we are waiting for them," he said.

"There is no car, no tuktuk, no donkey cart, no vehicle, nothing that could move on this road."

By late on Monday, Gaza's Hamas authorities said more than 300,000 people, or almost half of those displaced from the north during the war, had crossed into Gaza City and the north edge of the enclave from areas in the south.

Even as those who arrived in Gaza looked around for somewhere to settle down, tens of thousands were still moving north as mediators began preliminary work on the second stage of ceasefire negotiations due to begin next week.

Three more Israeli hostages are due to be handed over on Thursday by Hamas, the militant group still in control of Gaza, with another three expected on Saturday, in exchange for scores of Palestinian prisoners set for release from Israeli jails, some of whom will go into exile.

In Cairo, a high-level Hamas team led by Mohammad Darwish, head of the group's leading council, held talks with Egyptian mediators, and welcomed 70 Palestinian prisoners who arrived in Cairo prior to being moved to third countries who would be willing to host them, a Hamas statement said.

These include Qatar, Turkey, and Algeria, according to Hamas and other sources.

Later on Tuesday, Hamas said the delegation has also discussed with Cairo officials alleged Israeli violations of the truce and ideas to achieve national unity with the rival Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas, including an Egyptian proposal to form a committee to run post-war Gaza.

Hamas, which has run Gaza since 2007, and Abbas's authority, which has a sway in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, have so far failed to end political splits that weakened Palestinian aspirations for statehood.

NEGOTIATIONS

Under the terms of the ceasefire, agreed this month with Egyptian and Qatari mediation and U.S. support, 33 hostages are due to be released during a six-week ceasefire, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, many of them serving life sentences in Israeli jails. Seven hostages and 290 prisoners have so far been exchanged.

A second stage, which will decide what happens to more than 60 other hostages, including men of military age as well as a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, is due to begin by next Tuesday.

If that succeeds, a full end to the war could follow. It would also open the way to talks on reconstructing Gaza, now largely destroyed by an Israeli campaign that killed almost 47,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health authorities.

The conflict was triggered by the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel that killed 1,200 people, according to an Israeli toll, and saw more than 250 taken hostage.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced pressure from some hardliners in his government, unhappy that the agreement leaves Hamas still in power in Gaza, not to proceed to the second stage but to recommence fighting to secure what they see as total victory.

But Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior Hamas official, said the group believed the talks would go ahead.

"We are ready to begin negotiations for the second phase at the specified time and are confident that Netanyahu has no choice but to proceed with the second phase," he said.

What would follow full implementation of the ceasefire remains unclear after Israel's repeated declarations that Hamas will not be allowed to remain in power in Gaza.

U.S. President Donald Trump's call for Palestinians in Gaza to be taken to Egypt or Jordan, though strongly rejected in the region and by Palestinian officials and residents, has further complicated the outlook.