Thousands of Gaza residents have begun the arduous journey back to their homes in the north after a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel took effect on Friday. Many returnees describe a landscape transformed beyond recognition, with entire neighbourhoods reduced to rubble.
Abdel Fattah al-Kurdi, a 40-year-old from Gaza City, said he became lost on the way back, unable to identify streets he had known since childhood. “The city looks completely different, as if it is no longer the Gaza we once knew,” he said. He recognised the Netzarim checkpoint only by the bodies of those killed trying to return earlier.
The ceasefire, which aims to end the two-year war, includes the release of 48 Israeli hostages and nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. However, Israeli troops remain in about half of the Gaza Strip, and some areas are still off-limits. Asmaa Zuheir, a 34-year-old nurse, attempted to return to Beit Lahia but was stopped by drone fire. “I saw no landmarks. The entire area had been levelled to the ground,” she said.
Many returnees faced long waits and dangerous conditions. Ahmad Salem, 30, from al-Jabalia, slept in the street for two days before he could pass through the checkpoint. When he finally reached his home, he found it had been destroyed. Despite the devastation, he said, “I feel more at peace than in the south, because I am back where I belong.”
