Palestinians return to North Gaza

Sabrine Zanoun, 44, said the moment she returned home from her affluent neighborhood in northern Gaza, she was overwhelmed by a mix of emotions.

“We are happy to see our family again… (but)” he told the BBC.

“People would come here to walk around because of the beautiful scenery. Now it’s mostly ruins.”

Sabrine was one of hundreds of thousands of displaced people returning to their homes or ruins in northern Gaza on Monday.

The mass return comes a week after a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas aims to permanently end the war that began 15 months ago.

Like others in Gaza, she was replaced several times over the course of the war, most recently in the central city of Deir Al-Balah.

She joined a “flood of people” walking along the coastal Al-Rashid Street, a route open to movers early Monday morning.

A security official in Gaza told the AFP news agency that more than 200,000 people crossed to the north of the Strip on foot for two hours.

Palestinians spoke to the BBC on their travels.

“It was so long and tiring,” said Israa Shaheen, 24, shortly after arriving in Gaza City.

“Even down to the middle of the road people were happy and singing and things like that, but when it took a long time people got frustrated. Then we got to a sign that said ‘Welcome to Gaza’ and a lot of Palestinian flags. . And people started to feel joy again.”

Others traveled by car along different routes.

“There are thousands of people here. They are crowding the roads… We are very happy, but I am also sad to know that we will end up in Gaza City,” she said by phone as she neared the checkpoint.

When the people reached their destination, they spoke of their shock at remaining in the community.

Mohammed Imad Al-Din, a barber who had been waiting at the checkpoint, returned to find his home destroyed, and his salon looted during a nearby Israeli strike.

Lubna Nassar was waiting to be reunited with her husband with her two daughters and son. But while he survived, their home was gone.

“The warmth of the reunion was darkened by the bitter reality: We moved from a tent in the south to a tent in the north because we no longer had a home,” she said.

Others are still waiting to take their journey home or decide their next steps.

One man said that without his pregnant wife and young daughter, “I’d have to run north in the race.” Instead, they hoped that many people would pass by and slowly begin their journey home. He expected much of their neighborhood to be flattened.

“We hope this war will end and we will rebuild everything that was destroyed,” he said.

The other said his brother told him not to come back now. “I called and said… houses are being demolished to the ground, people are sleeping on the streets and no one is helping them,” he said.

In the affluent neighborhood of Tel Al-Hawa, Sabrine said she was grateful to be back home standing with her family.

“This is mostly devastation and destruction. Anyone who finds a house still standing or even a room should consider themselves lucky,” she said.

Additional reporting by Muath al-Khatib