Israel blocked thousands of Palestinians from returning to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday, accusing Hamas of violating a fragile ceasefire by changing the order of hostage releases.

Israel will on Saturday begin allowing Palestinians to return to their homes in northern Gaza on foot through the so-called Nezarim corridor that bisects Gaza under its fragile ceasefire agreement with Hamas.

Israel said another hostage, female civilian Abel Yehud, was supposed to be released ahead of the release of the four soldiers on Saturday.

Separately, a senior Hamas official said the Palestinians would never accept US President Donald Trump's suggestion that most of Gaza's population should be resettled, at least temporarily, elsewhere, including in Egypt and Jordan.

Meanwhile, local Palestinian health officials said on Sunday that Israeli forces fired into a crowd, killing two people and wounding nine others.

The ceasefire comes after 15 months of fighting between Israel and Hamas.

The war broke out after Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped about 250 in an attack on Oct. 7. Israel's retaliatory military operations have killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, more than half of whom were women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

More than 13,000 children have been killed, an estimated 25,000 injured and at least 25,000 hospitalized due to malnutrition, according to UN agencies.

This is the latest:

TEL AVIV, Israel — Finance Minister Bezarel Smotrich and former national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir both want Israel to build Jewish settlements in Gaza, backing Trump’s comments, calling them "Voluntary immigration".

Palestinians and many of their supporters see it as code for ethnic cleansing.

In a post on Sunday, Smotrich called the idea of ​​"helping (Palestinians) find somewhere else to start a new and better life" great and said he would work with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu achieve this goal.

Ben Gvir, who quit Netanyahu's government over the current ceasefire in Gaza, said Trump's comments gave Israel a green light to continue "voluntary immigration."

"When the president of the world's largest superpower personally proposes this, the Israeli government should implement it," he said in a statement.

Netanyahu says building Jewish settlements in Gaza is unrealistic. Israel withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005 but still maintains a blockade on the area with Egypt.

JERUSALEM - The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said its staff had been instructed to evacuate the premises by Thursday.

Israel passed legislation last year severing all ties with the agency and banning it from operating on its territory. The agency, the Gaza Strip's main aid provider, has allowed itself to be infiltrated by Hamas, a report said, a charge the United Nations denies.

The agency said in a statement on Sunday that the evacuation order "violates the international legal obligations of U.N. member states, including Israel." “The United Nations premises are inviolable and enjoy the privileges and immunities provided for in the Charter of the United Nations.”

UNRWA closed its East Jerusalem headquarters last May after Israeli protesters set it on fire.

DEIR BALAH, Gaza Strip - Bassem Naim said the Palestinian people would never agree to such a proposal "even if it was ostensibly well-intentioned under the guise of reconstruction."

He also said that if Israel lifts the blockade, Palestinians can rebuild Gaza "better than before."

DEIR BALA, Gaza Strip - Israeli forces fired into crowds three times overnight into Sunday. The victims included a child, according to Arvada Hospital, which received the wounded.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

Israel has withdrawn its troops from several areas of Gaza as part of a ceasefire that took effect on Sunday, but the military warned people to stay away from its forces, which remain operating within the Gaza border and the buffer zone inside Israel. Necharim Corridor.