In an apocalyptic landscape left by more than 15 months of war, Gazans returned home, many to find nothing but ruins, on the first day of the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.
“I just want to go back,” exclaims Wafaa al-Habil, originally from Gaza City (north) and refugee in Khan Younes (south) because of the fighting and bombings. “I missed Gaza so much, and our loved ones.”
Passing by her at the wheel of a packed car, a man says: “It’s the greatest joy… I’m going back to Rafah!”, further south, on the border with Egypt .
In the north of the devastated and besieged territory, in the dust of the broken streets, the columns of displaced people advance, most of them on foot, in the middle of a gray sea of rubble, collapsed concrete blocks, twisted metal structures.
However, groups of young men sing, many forming a “V” for victory, in front of AFP photographers after the ceasefire came into force after more than 15 months of war triggered by an attack from Hamas on October 7, 2023.
The vast majority of the 2.4 million inhabitants of the relentlessly shelled territory were thrown onto the roads, moved several times into improvised tent camps, into temporary housing or into schools transformed into refuges.
Many confide that they did not think they would “survive” until the ceasefire.
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Thousands of displaced Gazans return home on first day of ceasefire
– “Unlivable” –
According to Gaza Civil Defense, eight people were killed there again on Sunday morning, due to a delay of almost three hours in the start of the truce, Hamas having delayed in providing the list of hostages to be released during the day.
Maha Abed was sitting in front of her tent in the al-Mawassi camp (south), with her luggage, “from dawn”, and waiting for her husband to take the road to Rafah, when he called her to tell her ‘wait, because of the shooting.
“We are exhausted, I don’t want to spend another night in this tent,” said the 27-year-old woman.
-Having just returned to his home in Jabalia, the epicenter since October of a vast Israeli offensive which chased residents towards Gaza City, Walid Abou Jiab is collapsed. “There’s nothing left, it’s become unlivable.”
In this area of the northern Gaza Strip, children roll a large plastic water tank to carry belongings, drawn-faced women carry large bags overflowing with dishes or blankets.
Also shocked by “the immensity of the destruction” in Jabalia, Fouad Abou Jilboa nevertheless wants to turn the page: “thanks to our determination, our faith and our strength, we will rebuild”.
– Camp before rebuilding –
Also in Rafah, at the southern tip of Gaza, Mohammed al-Rabayaa claims to have found only “ruins” where his family’s houses were.
But he is preparing to camp there in a tent: “we will live here until our houses are rebuilt.”
According to the UN, the war has caused in Gaza a level of destruction “unprecedented in recent history”, auguring, according to experts, a very long reconstruction at exorbitant cost.
According to the ceasefire agreement, residents of the northern third of the territory who have taken refuge in the south will only be able to return after the first week of the truce and the planned withdrawal of Israeli soldiers from several sectors.
In the meantime, the army is still cutting the territory in two, at the “Netzarim corridor” south of Gaza City.
In the middle of the crowds on the way, who barely pay attention, pick-up trucks loaded with armed fighters parade. The municipal police are also visible, deployed by Hamas which claims to want to maintain order in the midst of the ambient chaos.
And in Gaza City, excavators are already starting to clear some of the rubble.
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