Many residents of northern Gaza and southern Lebanon are expected to return to their homes in the coming days and weeks, with most of the fighting in both areas paused under Israeli ceasefire agreements with Hamas and Hezbollah.
Under Israel's multi-phased deal with Hamas, some hostages held in the Gaza Strip and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails have started to be released. Negotiations between Israel and Hamas are expected to continue amid the first phase of the deal, which was slated to last about six weeks.
Israel warns Lebanese residents to avoid areas near border
Israel issued a warning to Lebanese residents on Tuesday, telling them to avoid multiple areas near the Israeli border as it redeploys in various locations in southern Lebanon.
At least 22 were killed over the weekend.
"The deployment process is taking place gradually and in some sectors it is being postponed and requires more time in order to ensure that Hezbollah is not able to re-establish its strength in the field," the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.
"Hezbollah, as usual, puts its narrow interests above the interests of the Lebanese state and tries through its mouthpieces to heat up the situation, despite being the main reason for the destruction of the south," the IDF said.
Jan 27, 2025, 5:48 PM EST
Palestinians on returning home: 'It feels like we're reborn!'
Emotional scenes played out all over the Gaza Strip on Monday as families and friends reunited for the first time in over 15 months after the Israeli military allowed movement between northern and southern Gaza.
A sea of people swept the shoreline heading north along the sandy remains of the coastal highway. Many traveled on foot trudging through sand, a Palestinian flag flickering in the wind above them.
Internally displaced Palestinians walk on Al Rashid road in central Gaza as they return from the south to northern Gaza Strip, Jan. 27, 2025.
Mohammed Saber/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
"It feels like we're reborn!" Om Wael, a grandmother from Gaza City, told ABC News as she carried her granddaughter in her arms, with a look of joyful determination on her face.
"Even if our home is flattened, we're so happy to return to our city, to our homes, unharmed. Thank God," she said.
Mirvat Ajur, 29, from the Daraj neighborhood in central Gaza City, told ABC News that she walked for about five hours until she reached central Gaza.
"It was a difficult journey, but the people were very happy, singing, clapping and dancing in joy at returning to their homes," she said.
Displaced Palestinians return to their homes in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, Jan. 27, 2025, days after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas came into effect.
Jehad Alshrafi/AP
Approximately 300,000 people made the journey home, according to figures released by Gazan authorities. Samira Halas, 55, was among them.
"I know that my home is damaged and burned, but I want to return to it," Halas, from Gaza City’s Shuja'iyya neighborhood, told ABC News, describing the destruction she saw upon her return "like an earthquake had hit it."
"I want to live in those burned and destroyed rooms," she continued. "I am like a fish dying far from the sea."
-ABC News' Ruwaida Amer and Zoe Magee
Jan 27, 2025, 2:59 PM EST
At least 300,000 return to northern Gaza
At least 300,000 Palestinians returned home to northern Gaza on Monday, according to the Gaza government office, after Israel allowed them to cross into the north for the first time in over a year.
Displaced Gazans walk towards Gaza City on January 27, 2025, after crossing the Netzarim corridor from the southern Gaza Strip.
AFP via Getty Images
Palestinians, who were displaced to the south at Israel's order during the war, wait to head back to their homes in northern Gaza by vehicle through Salahudeen Road, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in the central Gaza Strip, Jan. 27, 2025.
Hatem Khaled/Reuters
A displaced family rides on the back of a vehicle with their belongings as they cross the Netzarim corridor from the southern Gaza Strip into the northern part on January 27, 2025.
Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images
Jan 27, 2025, 11:52 AM EST
135,000 tents needed in Gaza
As people return to northern Gaza on Monday, the Gaza government said it "immediately and urgently" needs at least 135,000 tents because 90% of the buildings have been destroyed.
The government called on the international community to help provide "basic supplies" for Palestinians.
An aerial photograph taken by a drone shows displaced Palestinians gathering with their belongings near a roadblock on the al Rashid Street, as they wait to return to their homes in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, Jan. 26, 2025.
