Tehran, Karafarinane Eghtesad – A spokesperson for the Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, has said that the Zionist regime is preventing displaced Palestinians from returning to the northern Gaza Strip, which constitutes a blatant violation of a ceasefire deal that took effect last week.

Hazem Qassem made the remark in an interview with Al Araby TV network on Sunday.

He said that the regime was delaying the return of the displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza despite the fact that Hamas had informed mediators that female Israeli prisoner Arbel Yehud was alive.

The spokesperson urged the mediators of the ceasefire – namely the U.S., Egypt, and Qatar – to exert pressure on the regime to facilitate the return of the internally displaced people to their homes.

On Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that Tel Aviv would not allow Gaza residents to return to the northern areas until Yehud was released.

A source close to Hamas leadership informed Qatar’s Al Jazeera TV network that the movement had communicated to the mediators that Yehud would be released next Saturday.

Israel claims that Arbel Yehud is a civilian. But a source in Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement has said she is a trooper trained in the Israeli army’s space program, and is held by the movement’s military wing Al-Quds Brigades.

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