The China Mail - Palestinians find Gaza City in ruins as Hamas warns tough talks ahead

Trump's Middle East envoy promised Israeli hostage families their loved ones would be returned to them by Monday, and the region's top US general visited Gaza one day after the guns fell silent.

Israel and Hamas are now expected to release hostages and prisoners, two years after the Palestinian militant group's October 7, 2022 attack triggered a counteroffensive that killed more than 67,000 Palestinians.

But -- after the prisoner exchange and a partial Israeli withdrawal -- the conflict's US-led mediators will then have to secure a longer-term political solution that will see Hamas hand in its weapons and step aside from governing Gaza.

In an interview with AFP in Qatar, Hossam Badran, a member of Hamas's political bureau, warned: "The second phase of the Trump plan, as it is clear from the points themselves, contains many complexities and difficulties."

Hamas, he said, would not attend the formal signing of the Gaza peace deal in Egypt, where international leaders are due to gather Monday to discuss implementing the first phase of the ceasefire.

Hamas is resisting calls to disarm. An official from the group, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that it was "out of the question".

Badran said that, while the group does not want war, "our Palestinian people and the resistance force will undoubtedly confront and use all their capabilities to repel this aggression if this battle is imposed".

- Multinational force -

Under the Trump plan, as Israel conducts a phased withdrawal from Gaza'a cities, it will be replaced by a multinational force from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, coordinated by a US-led command centre in Israel.

On Saturday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) commander Admiral Brad Cooper, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-on-law Jared Kushner visited Gaza to plan the next phase of the truce with Israeli army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir.

Witkoff, Kushner and Trump's daughter Ivanka then went on to Tel Aviv to attend a vigil with the families of the remaining Israeli hostages held in Gaza. A huge crowd greeted him with cheers and chants of "Thank you Trump!".

"Your courage has moved the world," Witkoff told the families. "To the hostages themselves: you are coming home."

Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is one of about 20 hostages believed to still be alive, said: "We will continue to shout and fight until everyone is home."

Hamas has until noon on Monday to hand over 47 remaining Israeli hostages -- living and dead -- from the 251 abducted two years ago.

The remains of one more hostage, held in Gaza since 2014, are also expected to be returned.

In exchange, Israel will release 250 prisoners, including some of those serving life sentences for deadly anti-Israeli attacks, and 1,700 Gazans detained by the military since the war broke out.

The Israeli prison service said Saturday it had moved the 250 national security detainees to the prisons of Ofer, in the occupied West Bank, and Ketziot in southern Israel's Negev desert, ahead of the handover.

- 'Stood and cried' -

According to Gaza's civil defence agency, a rescue service operating under Hamas authority, more than 500,000 Palestinians had returned to Gaza City by Saturday evening.

"We walked for hours, and every step was filled with fear and anxiety for my home," Raja Salmi, 52, told AFP.

When she reached the Al-Rimal neighbourhood, she found her house utterly destroyed.

"I stood before it and cried. All those memories are now just dust," she said.

Drone footage shot by AFP showed whole city blocks reduced to a twisted mess of concrete and steel reinforcing wire.

The walls and windows of five-storey apartment blocks had been torn off and now lie choking the roadsides as disconsolate residents poke through the rubble.

The United Nations humanitarian office says Israel has allowed agencies to start transporting 170,000 tonnes of aid into Gaza if the ceasefire holds.

- 'Ghost town' -

Men, women and children navigated streets filled with rubble, searching for homes amid collapsed concrete slabs, destroyed vehicles and debris.

While some returned in vehicles, most walked, carrying belongings in bags strapped to their shoulders.

Sami Musa, 28, returned alone to check on his family's house.

"Thank God... I found that our home is still standing," Musa told AFP.

"It felt like a ghost town, not Gaza," Musa said. "The smell of death still lingers in the air."

Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed at least 67,682 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the United Nations considers credible.

The data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but indicates that more than half of the dead are women and children.

The war was sparked by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

str-burs-rs/dc/jsa

J.Liv--ThChM