The government approved a proposal in a telephone conference on Sunday that there is no security reason preventing residents of the Gaza border communities from returning to their homes, starting Tuesday, based on an IDF and Defense Ministry assessment, according to Israeli media citing informed sources.
These communities include Kibbutz Be'eri, Hulit, Kissufim, Kfar Aza, Kerem Shalom, Nahal Oz, Nir Am, Nir Yitzhak, Nir Oz, Netiv Ha’asara, Sufa, and Ein Hashlosha.
Funding for alternative housing in hotels and absorption centers for residents of these communities will end at the end of July, the government decided.
As the security obstacle has been removed, residents will be able to return and live in their homes, provided no rehabilitation obstacles are preventing their return, the explanation of the decision stated.
"If there is no security obstacle to returning to live in the Gaza border communities, then surely there is no obstacle to ending the fighting in Gaza," the Hostage Families Forum commented.
"Today, the government has proven again what most of the public already knows; the mission to defeat Hamas has been completed, and Israel has succeeded in removing the real threat from the Gaza Strip, achieving its security objectives," the statement continued.
"Now, the remaining task is to reach a comprehensive agreement to return all 50 hostages, in order to complete the mission and ensure an Israeli victory. No partial deals or cruel selections," the organization added.
"The Gaza Envelope will earn the name 'The Land of Revival' when all the hostages return home. Only then will there be a true national revival. We will return, we will rise," the organization concluded.
'We are not ready to gamble with our lives'
"We are not ready to gamble with our lives again," a resident of Ein Hashlosha told Walla.
"I hope to return home to Ein HaShlosha, but I’m not planning to return to a warzone; we are not ready to gamble with our lives again," another resident said.
"I think the government made the wrong decision," a resident of Nahal Oz added.
"Any government minister who thinks it’s possible to return to Nahal Oz should come here and spend just one night. We are still at war, and the hostages have not yet returned; only then will it be possible to talk about the return of residents," they said.