Tehran, IRNA – Over 500,000 displaced Palestinians have returned to the northern areas of Gaza in the last 72 hours, the Gaza Media Office reports.
“This comes after 470 days of forced displacement since the start of the genocide committed by the Israeli occupation army in the Gaza Strip,” it said in a statement on Wednesday.
However, many returnees are heading back to the center of Gaza as they struggle to find water, food, shelter, and sanitation in the north. The United Nations has warned that humanitarian needs on the ground are “immense.”
Despite a ceasefire that took effect on January 19, Israeli forces continue to carry out sporadic attacks across Gaza, including by targeting Palestinians returning home.
In the past 24 hours, Israeli attacks killed two Palestinians. Two more people have also died from their injuries, and 59 bodies from earlier attacks have been recovered from under the rubble, officials said.
This brings the total death toll in Gaza to 47,417, according to the health ministry. At least 111,571 Palestinians have been injured since the war began on October 7, 2023, it said.
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