Israeli troops were preventing Palestinians from returning to their homes in the north of the Gaza Strip on Sunday as Israel said Hamas had violated the terms of the cease-fire agreement that went into effect a week ago while Hamas accused Israel of stalling.
Officials on both sides said they were in contact with mediators to try to resolve the crisis — one of the most significant between the parties since the cease-fire brought at least a temporary halt in fighting after 15 months of devastating war.
Under the terms of the initial phase of the deal agreed to this month, Israel had been expected to withdraw some of its forces to allow hundreds of thousands of displaced Gazans to head north after a hostage and prisoner exchange on Saturday.
But the Israeli government said Hamas had violated the deal by not returning female captive Israeli civilians first and by failing to provide Israel with information regarding the status of other hostages, as stipulated by the agreement.
Israeli officials said that under the agreement, Arbel Yehud, an Israeli civilian held hostage in Gaza, was supposed to be one of the four women released on Saturday.
The hostages released were all soldiers who had been lookouts at a base on the Gaza border and were abducted from there on Oct. 7, 2023, during the Hamas-led attack on Israel that began the war.
The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said that it would not allow Gazans to head north “until the release of the civilian Arbel Yehud has been arranged,” leaving the timing of the troop withdrawal and the residents’ return unclear.
The Israeli government reiterated in a statement on Sunday that Mr. Netanyahu was “standing firm” on that decision. Ms. Yehud had also been expected to be released along with about 100 other hostages during a weeklong cease-fire in November 2023.
In addition, Hamas was supposed to have provided Israel with a list by late Saturday detailing the condition of the remaining 26 hostages expected to be released over the next five weeks. An Israeli official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue, said on Sunday afternoon that Israel had still not received the list.
Israeli officials have said that they believe many or most of the hostages scheduled to be released in the first phase of the deal are alive, but the status of some of them is not clear.
Hamas on Sunday accused Israel of stalling and of breaching the agreement by preventing displaced Gazans from moving north.
In a statement, Hamas said that it had informed the mediators that Ms. Yehud was alive and had given “all the necessary guarantees for her release,” adding that it was following up with the mediators in the hope of resolving the dispute.
The cease-fire deal was mediated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt. The Israeli official said on Sunday that Israel had not received any proof from Hamas regarding the status of Ms. Yehud.
But it appears that Hamas may not be holding Ms. Yehud.
Hussein al-Batsh, an official of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a smaller armed organization that sometimes rivals Hamas in Gaza, told The New York Times on Sunday that Ms. Yehud was in the custody of the Quds Brigades, the group’s military wing. He said that Ms. Yehud was not released on Saturday for what he called “technical reasons.”
Mr. al-Batsh added that senior Islamic Jihad leaders were involved in the discussions with the mediators. A spokesman for the group, Mohammed Al Haj Mousa, then said in a statement that Ms. Yehud would be released before next Saturday to allow displaced Gazans to return to the north as quickly as possible.
But Israel denied that any agreement had been reached on Ms. Yehud’s return. An official familiar with the details said on Sunday evening that contacts with the mediators were continuing and repeated that Israel would not allow displaced Gazans to move north until the issue of Ms. Yehud’s release had been resolved.
On Sunday, images of a large crowd of displaced Palestinians waiting near the Netzarim corridor, a zone built by Israeli forces that splits Gaza in two, to return to the north were circulating in Palestinian media.
Wafa, the Palestinian Authority’s news agency, reported that one person was killed and several others were wounded west of Nuseirat in central Gaza after Israeli forces fired at the crowd of people waiting to return to the north. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reports.
Ghada al-Kurd, 37, said she had chosen to remain in central Gaza on Sunday despite longing to return to her home in the north. “I will not leave until everything becomes clear,” she said. “I will not risk my life — those soldiers cannot be trusted,” she added.
Ms. al-Kurd, who left her home and her two daughters behind in Gaza City in the early weeks of the war, was once again left wondering when she would finally get to see them. “Here we are just waiting, feeling stressed and anxious,” she said. “They are playing with our fate,” she added.
Johnatan Reiss, Gabby Sobelman and Myra Noveck contributed reporting.
