As thousands of displaced Palestinians tried to return to their homes in northern Gaza on Sunday, Israeli troops shot into the crowd, forcing people to turn back in panic, according to an emergency worker and two people who tried to make the journey.
Wafa, the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency, reported that five people were killed and 23 wounded by Israeli gunfire and artillery in the encounter, on Al-Rashid Street south of Gaza City, as a crowd of Gazans headed north to their homes.
The circumstances of the deaths could not be confirmed independently, and the Israeli military did not immediately respond to questions about whether its forces opened fire on Palestinian civilians trying to cross to northern Gaza.
For months, the Israeli military has barred Palestinians who have been displaced by the war in Gaza from returning to their homes in northern Gaza. It has become a sticking point in negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
It was not clear why some Palestinians believed that Israel would not block them from returning on Sunday. But they were making the journey on a day when Iran had launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel.
More than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its assault there in October, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. The assault occurred in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that killed some 1,200 people, according to the Israeli authorities.
