Netanyahu shows flexibility in return of Palestinians to their homes in northern Gaza

By Zein Khalil

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showed flexibility in agreeing on proposals he rejected in the past on the return of displaced Palestinians to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip, Israeli media reported Monday, citing two informed sources.

The Israeli public broadcaster KAN said an Israeli delegation in Cairo presented a position to mediators that is more flexible with regards to the return of the displaced people to the north.

It noted that Mossad spy agency chief David Barnea and the director of Israel’s internal security service Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, are expected to return to Cairo after receiving the Palestinian group Hamas's response to the new Israeli proposals.

Over the past rounds of negotiations, Israel insisted on the gradual return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza involving only elderly people, women and children, a condition that was rejected by Hamas, which insists on the return of all people to their homes in the north.

Hamas is estimated to be holding more than 130 Israeli hostages, while Israel is holding more than 9,100 Palestinians in its jails.

Hamas demands an end to Israel’s deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territory for any hostage-prisoner swap deal with Tel Aviv.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas which killed some 1,200 people.

Over 32,800 Palestinians have since been killed and 75,300 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities. Israel has imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which on Thursday asked Israel to do more to prevent famine in Gaza.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar