A Hamas official said Sunday that Israeli troops had fully withdrawn from a key road dividing the Gaza Strip as part of a fragile truce that Israel confirmed it was implementing.
"Israeli forces have dismantled their positions and military posts and completely withdrawn their tanks from the Netzarim Corridor on Salaheddin Road, allowing vehicles to pass freely in both directions," a Gazan Interior Ministry official said.
An AFP journalist in the Netzarim area, which controls key access points between the territory's north and south, said that no Israeli forces were present Sunday.
Journalists saw cars, buses, pickup trucks and donkey carts traveling on Salaheddin Road from both the north and south, crossing the Netzarim Corridor where an Israeli checkpoint used to stand.
According to a senior Hamas official, the Israeli withdrawal from Netzarim had been scheduled for Sunday under the terms of a truce that took effect on Jan. 19, after more than 15 months of Israel's genocidal war on Gaza.
Asked about Sunday's withdrawal, an Israeli security official, who requested anonymity, said: "We are preparing to implement the cease-fire agreement according to the guidelines of the political echelon."
The war was triggered by the Hamas incursion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and after months of fruitless negotiations, a cease-fire was sealed in the lead-up to U.S. President Donald Trump's inauguration for a second term.
The 2023 incursion, caused around 1,210 deaths and took 251 hostages, of whom 73 remain in the territory, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israeli genocidal war, in comparison, killed at least 48,181 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, the Gazan Health Ministry said Saturday.
Under the terms of the cease-fire, Israel and Hamas are conducting multiple rounds of hostage-prisoner swaps.
The fifth such exchange took place on Saturday, and saw the release of three Israeli hostages and 183 Palestinian prisoners.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced Hamas after the handover of the three captives, who appeared emaciated and spoke on a stage ahead of their release.
The hospital treating the hostages said Or Levy and Eli Sharabi were in a "poor medical condition," while Ohad Ben Ami was in a "severe nutritional state."
Of the prisoners freed from Israeli jails, the Palestinian Prisoners' Club advocacy group said seven required hospitalization and decried "brutality" and mistreatment in jail.
"We always dreamed that this would happen, that one day the prison director would be forced to open the gates," said freed prisoner Shadi Barghouti, still in a grey prison tracksuit.
The latest exchange came as negotiations were set to begin on the next phase of the cease-fire, which is intended to pave the way for a permanent end to the war.
But senior Hamas official Bassem Naim on Saturday said Israel's stalling an "lack of commitment in implementing the first phase ... exposes this agreement to danger and thus it may stop or collapse."
Earlier this week, Trump sparked global outrage by suggesting the United States should take control of the Gaza Strip and clear out its inhabitants.
He said Egypt or Jordan could take in Palestinians from Gaza – an idea both countries have flatly rejected.
The Israeli defense minister this week ordered the army to prepare for an exodus of Palestinians from Gaza, as Trump ruled out sending American troops to the territory.
In an interview with Fox News on Saturday, Netanyahu hailed the plan and said Israel was willing to "do the job."
"I think that President Trump's proposal is the first fresh idea in years, and it has the potential to change everything in Gaza," said Netanyahu.
"All Trump is saying, 'I want to open the gate and give them an option to relocate temporarily while we rebuild the place physically,'" Netanyahu said.
Trump "never said he wants American troops to do the job. Guess what? We'll do the job," Netanyahu added.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty was heading to Washington on Sunday, while Jordan's King Abdullah II was due to meet Trump at the White House on Feb. 11.
