Middle East latest: Palestinians return to their homes in northern Gaza for a second day

Crowds of displaced Palestinians made the arduous journey back to heavily destroyed northern Gaza for a second day Tuesday, under a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Families walked for hours up a seaside road with whatever they could carry. Others packed up belongings in squalid tent camps and former schools where they’ve been sheltering in the south.

Many said they were happy to return, even though their homes in northern Gaza are likely damaged or destroyed. Others said the feeling was bittersweet, as nearly everyone has friends or relatives killed by Israel during the 15-month war.

“This is our homeland and we have to go back,” said one displaced woman, Ola Saleh.

The ceasefire is aimed at ending the war and releasing dozens of hostages and hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned or detained by Israel.

Here’s the latest:

Israel’s defense minister says troops will remain in Syrian buffer zone indefinitely

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz visited the Syrian summit of Mount Hermon, currently occupied by Israeli forces, on Tuesday and said Israel will remain there and in the buffer zone for an “unlimited time.”

Katz said Israel must stay in the zone to ensure “hostile forces” will not gain a foothold on the Israeli border nor anywhere within 50 kilometers (30 miles) beyond the zone, citing security for Israeli residents in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.

For decades, the Syrian-Israeli border remained largely quiet under a 1974 agreement that established a U.N.-patrolled demilitarized buffer zone after the 1973 Mideast war.

But after Syrian President Bashar Assad’s ouster in December, Israeli forces entered the 400-square-kilometer (155-square mile) buffer zone, calling it a temporary move to block hostile forces.

However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later said Israel will stay in the zone until another arrangement is in place “that ensures Israel’s security.” That drew criticism from residents of the zone and Arab countries.

Palestinians stream into northern Gaza for a second day

WADI GAZA, Gaza Strip — Palestinians streamed into northern Gaza on foot and in vehicles Tuesday, a day after Israel opened the north for the first time since the early weeks of the war with Hamas.

“Although my husband was martyred and my sons are injured, I’m happy that we’re going back home to our land and our home,” said Fayza al-Nahal, who was preparing to head north.

Many in Khan Younis in the south were preparing to walk for hours. The mood was mostly joyful, even though many knew homes had been destroyed.

“We will move from being in tents here to living in tents there. What can we do?” said Osama Ayesh. “There’s no water, there’s no electricity, there’s nothing. We will also face hardships there, but we are relieved and thankful.”

A Palestinian family’s ordeal during an Israeli raid in the West Bank

TULKAREM, West Bank — The thunder of explosions in the urban Tulkarem camp in the West Bank marked the start of Osama Al-Qubbaj’s 24-hour ordeal to evacuate his children.

Before the Israeli army began its ongoing raid on Monday, Al-Qubbaj dropped his two toddler sons and young daughter at their grandmother’s apartment in the camp and returned home to the surrounding city with plans to pick them up later.

But within hours, Israel’s army surrounded the camp, firing at Palestinian gunmen and ripping up the roads and water pipes with bulldozers in search of explosives.

Al-Qubbaj phoned the Palestinian Red Crescent, pleading with the dispatcher to send rescuers for his children. Tulkarem’s streets were empty, as residents were trapped in their homes while Israeli soldiers roamed, checking drivers’ IDs.

On Tuesday, roughly 24 hours after the army operation started, the Red Crescent delivered the children to their father.

“The situation was so scary, for everyone but especially for children,” Al-Qubbaj told The Associated Press.

The West Bank has seen a surge in violence since the war in Gaza began.

First Russian officials visit Syria since ally Assad was ousted

BEIRUT — Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said Tuesday that a delegation of Russian officials had arrived in Damascus, the first to visit Syria since the fall of former President Bashar Assad — an ally of Moscow — in December in a rebel offensive.

The report said the delegation includes Russian deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov and the Russian president’s special envoy for Syria, Alexander Lavrentyev. RIA Novosti didn’t say who the delegation was planning to meet or the subject of the talks.

There was no official comment on the visit from Syria’s interim government, but the semi-official Al Watan newspaper reported that the Russian delegation would meet with Syria’s de facto leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, and with the Syrian foreign minister.

Assad took refuge in Russia after his ouster. The new Syrian authorities have not cut off relations with Moscow or forced a complete exit of Russian forces from bases in Syria, but Al Watan this month reported that a contract with a Russian company to manage the port in Tartous had been canceled.

Explosion hits container ship in the Red Sea

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — An explosion struck a Hong Kong-flagged container ship Tuesday on the Red Sea, sparking a fire that forced its crew to abandon the vessel, shipping industry officials said.

The ship was drifting and ablaze some 225 kilometers (140 miles) off the coast of Hodeida, a port city in Yemen held by the country’s Houthi rebels, said the Diaplous Group maritime firm.

It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the fire, and the Houthis did not immediately acknowledge it. The rebels said last week they were was limiting their Red Sea assaults following the Gaza ceasefire.

The vessel was abandoned and the crew was later rescued unharmed, another maritime industry official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity as authorization hadn’t been given to speak publicly about the incident. The name of the vessel wasn’t released.

— by Jon Gambrell