Israel says eight captives to be released Thursday under Gaza truce deal

Five Thai citizens and three Israeli people held captive by Palestinian armed groups in Gaza are set to be released on Thursday under the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said.

Netanyahu’s office on Wednesday said Arbel Yehud, Agam Berger and Gadi Moses would be released on Thursday along with five Thai nationals, whose names were not released.

The ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas that took effect on January 19 hinges on the exchange of Israeli captives held by Palestinian groups in Gaza for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

Hamas has so far released seven captives, with 290 Palestinian prisoners freed in exchange.

Bittersweet homecoming

In northern Gaza, thousands of displaced Palestinians continued to return to their homes on Wednesday. More than 500,000 Palestinians have made the journey to northern Gaza in the past 72 hours after Israel’s military opened crossing points under the ceasefire agreement, Gaza’s Government Media Office said.

“I’m happy to be back at my home,” Saif al-Din Qazaat, who returned to northern Gaza but had to sleep in a tent next to the ruins of his house, told the AFP news agency.

Mona Abu Aathra managed to travel from central Gaza to Gaza City, though she has yet to assess the full extent of the war’s impact on her home.

“We returned to Gaza City with nothing, and there’s no drinking water. Most streets are still blocked by the rubble of destroyed homes,” said the 20-year-old.

Abu Aathra expressed relief at being reunited with her family.

“It’s the first night we’re together again, me, my mother and my father. Last night, we gathered with my three brothers who were here in Gaza City.”

Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said that many families returned to homes that were seriously damaged.

“The joy of returning to northern Gaza has faded away in the face of the massive heartbreak and disappointment.”

“There are no lifelines [in northern Gaza]. Water and food are only available in very limited quantities, not enough [to provide for the] large number of people making their way back to their destroyed homes,” he added.

Aid accusations

Since the ceasefire took effect, truckloads of aid have also been allowed by Israel into war-ravaged Gaza.

But two senior Hamas officials have accused Israel of slowing down aid deliveries, with one citing items key to Gaza’s recovery such as fuel, tents, heavy machinery and other equipment.

“According to the agreement, these materials were supposed to enter during the first week of the ceasefire,” one official said.

An Israeli spokesperson for the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, the defence ministry body that oversees civil affairs in the Palestinian territories, said Hamas’s accusations are “totally fake news”.

Between Sunday and Wednesday, “3,000 trucks entered Gaza”, the spokesperson said. “The agreement says it should be 4,200 in seven days.”

A Turkish ship arrived at Egypt’s El Arish port according to the AFP news agency, containing 871 tonnes of humanitarian aid, 300 power generators, 20 portable toilets, 10,460 tents and 14,350 blankets.

While the supplies add to hundreds of truckloads of aid that have entered Gaza during the ceasefire, aid workers say it is still far short of meeting the needs of the war-torn population.

Meanwhile, Israel is set to implement a ban on the operations of the UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in Israel on Thursday. UNRWA’s offices and staff in Israel play a major role in the provision of healthcare and education to Palestinians, including those living in Gaza.

Reporting from Amman, Jordan, Al Jazeera’s Laura Khan said the ban could have a “devastating” impact on the agency’s operations in Gaza.

“According to the analysts, the most devastating consequences will be in Gaza. They already have more than a million tonnes of aid waiting outside Gaza to be sent into the Gaza Strip,” she said.

Within Gaza, UNRWA offers free primary and secondary education to 294,086 children in Gaza, or half of all students in the enclave.

The UN agency also offers free primary healthcare, and maternal and child health services to 1.2 million people in Gaza – more than half of the population and provides food for 1.13 million people in the enclave.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies