Palestinians return to northern Gaza

Moments after returning to her home in an affluent neighborhood in northern Gaza, Sabrin Zanun, 44, said she was overwhelmed by a mix of emotions.

“We’re happy to see our family again … (but) it’s also so sad it makes you cry – the destroyed houses, the rubble,” she told the BBC.

“People used to come here just to walk for the beautiful scenery. Now it’s mostly ruins.”

Sabrin was one of hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians who returned to their homes, or the ruins of their place, in northern Gaza on Monday.

The massive return comes a week into a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas aimed at permanently ending a war that began more than 15 months ago.

Like others in Gaza, she was displaced several times during the war, but most recently to the central city of Deir al-Balah.

She joined a “flood of people” traveling on foot along the Al-Rashid promenade, a route that opened to displaced Gazans early Monday morning.

A Gaza security official told AFP that more than 200,000 people crossed north of the Strip on foot in a two-hour period.

The Palestinians spoke to the BBC as they made the journey.

“It was so long and tiring,” said Iraa Shahin, 24, shortly after reaching Gaza City.

“Up until the middle of the road, people were happy and singing and stuff like that, but then when it took a long time, people got frustrated. Then we got to a sign that said ‘Welcome to Gaza’ and lots of Palestinian flags. And people started feeling joy again she said.

Others made the journey by car by a different route.

“There are thousands of people here. They fill the whole road … We are very happy, but I also feel sad knowing that I will reach Gaza City, but my home is no longer there,” 42-year-old Wafaa Hassouna – said on the phone as the checkpoint approaches.

When people reached their destinations, they spoke of their shock at what was left standing in their communities.

Mohammed Imad al-Din, a barber who had been waiting at the checkpoint, returned to find his home destroyed and his salon ransacked and damaged by a nearby Israeli strike.

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

“The warmth of the gathering was overshadowed by the bitter reality that we no longer have a home, so we moved from a tent in the south to a tent in the north,” she said.

Others are still waiting to make the trips home or decide on their next steps.

One man said he would have “run north like I was in a race” if he hadn’t had his pregnant wife and young daughter with him. Instead, they hoped to bypass the large crowds and slowly make their way home. He said they expected to find much of their neighborhood flattened.

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

Another said his brother told him not to come back for now. He “called and said … Houses have been knocked to the ground. People are sleeping on the streets and no one is helping them.”

In the affluent neighborhood of Tell al-Hawa, Sabrin said she was grateful he was back with his family and in a home that was still standing.

“It’s mostly ruins and destruction. Anyone who finds his house still standing or even just a room should consider himself lucky,” she said.

Additional reporting by Mu’at Al-Khatib