According Al Jazeera, thousands of Palestinian refugees are returning to Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip via the coastal "Al-Rashid" street.
According to the Gaza health ministry, around 650,000 displaced people in the central and southern Gaza Strip will return to their homes in the north of the enclave.
"The joy of return"
In this regard, the Hamas movement emphasized: "The return of the refugees is a victory for the Palestinian people and means announcing the defeat of the occupiers and their plans to displace the people of the Gaza Strip".
The Hamas statement said: "The scenes of the widespread return of the Palestinian people to their areas from which they were forced to leave show the greatness of this nation and their commitment to their land. The scenes that are full of the joy of return, love for the land and commitment to it are a message to some parties; parties that had bet on breaking the will of the Palestinian people and displacing them from their land".
The Hamas movement added: "The return of the displaced to their homes proves once again that the occupying regime has failed in achieving its hostile goals, including displacing the Palestinian people and breaking their will and resistance".
Palestinian refugees begin returning to northern Gaza Strip
The Israeli army opened the Netzarim corridor for Palestinians crossing into the north on Monday morning, with soldiers pledging to return as they withdrew from the area, according to the Israeli Channel 12.
The corridor, a 6km stretch of land that divides northern and southern Gaza, was established by Israel’s military during the current war and stretches from the Israeli boundary with Gaza City to the Mediterranean Sea.
Vehicles can also return to the northern Gaza Strip via Salah al-Din Street from 9 am today (Monday local time) after being inspected.
A Palestinian woman from Beit Lahia, in northern Gaza, as she returned to her home, described the north as "the heart and soul, the land we lost".
"For those who didn’t want us to return, here we are on our way home. We will stand our ground and rebuild. We want life to return to the way it was," she told Middle East Eye correspondent. She added that she hopes to live a long life to pass down "the love for the land and for our nation".
Ismail Abu Matter, a father of four who waited for three days before crossing into northern Gaza with his family, described scenes of jubilation on the other side with people singing, praying and crying as they reunited with relatives.
“It’s the joy of return,” said Abu Matter, whose family was among the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled or were driven out of what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding its creation. “We had thought we wouldn’t return, like our ancestors.”
Deportation of Palestinians is not a solution
Dr. Mohammed Taher, a British volunteer surgeon, spoke to Al Jazeera on al-Rashid Street as tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians traversed back to northern Gaza.
“I want to congratulate the Palestinian people, the people of Gaza, on this auspicious day. The day of return after 15 months of forcible displacement, hardship, and suffering of all kinds, and they have finally been allowed to try to find some semblance of life and rebuild the future,” Taher said, highlighting the physical wounds that need to heal.
Palestinian refugees begin returning to northern Gaza Strip
“There are thousands of people who are in need of complex surgery; there needs to be a plan to address those needs. There needs to be a plan to rebuild homes, rebuild universities, schools, and infrastructure that’s been wiped out.
“I tell you, what’s not going to be acceptable to these people is forceful evacuation. So, the solution lies in rebuilding, not deportation.”
The anger of the Zionists
Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right former national security minister who resigned in protest over the ceasefire agreement, condemned the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza on Monday.
Ben-Gvir said in a post on X on Monday that the opening of the Netzarim highway and the entry of tens of thousands of Palestinians into the northern Gaza Strip were the "images of Hamas’s victory and another humiliating part of the reckless deal."
"This is not what ‘complete victory’ looks like – this is what complete surrender looks like," Ben-Gvir said.
"The Israeli soldiers did not fight and give their lives in the Gaza Strip to make these photos possible. We must return to war – and destroy!"