Palestinians relocate trek home in north when Israel-Hamas ceasefire fire: Update directly
They marched for hours in flip -flops and sandals, clothes pockets dangling from the elbow. They walked through miles with children who just knew how to walk in their arms and mattresses from their shoulders. The old men entered the crutches, children pushing the wheelchair and a boy pulling their property on a slyer.
For nearly 16 months, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from northern Gaza lived in a tent, banned from returning home by Israel after being forced to flee to the south when they started a military attack against Hamas.
On Monday, right after the sunrise, thousands of them started the painful trip again. After disagreements between Israel and Hamas delayed the return over the weekend, the Israeli army finally withdrew from Gaza’s coastal road at 7 am, allowing migrants to move north. The owner of the car was then allowed to drive to the north along a inland road, tested.
The pedestrians soon set up a column of people stretching to the eyes to see – long miles and about 20 people keep up. It is rare for such an annoying journey to feel like such a relief.
We were very happy, he said Malak al-haj Ahmed, 17, a high school student who was taking a selfie with his family next to the coastal road. “There is no more joy than returning home.”
To mark the moment, some people distributed sweets. Some signs of victory flashed at photographers. A group of young boys led a praise to celebrate. Right or left, the north is the best, they sing. In the north we go!
For Palestinians, it was a moment of sinking in the symbol. Since Israel’s platform in 1948, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled or fled from their home in the known Arabic place, the Nakba, the Palestinians were determined by the repetitive shift. Repeated and exile.
Most Gazans are descendants of refugees forced to flee in 1948 and many people considered their movements from northern Gaza in 2023 to be a second Nakba. That fear was strengthened by Israeli repeated calls to resolve North Gaza with Israel people, as well as President Trump’s proposal over the weekend that Gazans should move to other areas. of the Arab world.
To return home in this context, through the land that Israeli soldiers have just retreated, feeling to some Palestinians as a person who dares to fight their own history.
We flipped the table on the head, he said, Ahmed Shehada, 34, a textile producer, who walked about 15 miles in six hours to Gaza City. Unlike many people returning to Monday, he saw his home still standing.
They want to depart from Gaza, Shehada said by phone. Instead, he added, I was sitting on a bench and I could not believe it.
In the central city of Deir Al Balah, a center of the relocation Gazans, there are many people trying to go north to the point where it is hard to walk through the city center. The family after the family took the tent and packed the furniture into the plastic bag. Some people heat up the fuel tank on their backs. A man fixes the wheel into a plastic box, turning it into a temporary stroller for his baby.
When they walked, they planned the joy of being reunited with relatives who ignored Israeli evacuation commands and stayed north when they started the war.
The first thing I would do was to hug my mother in her shelter, he said Anwar Abu Hindi, 41, a housewife walked north with a few children. Our feelings everywhere.
When people arrived at the netzarim corridor, the land that the Israeli army had occupied until several hours earlier, shooting at the Palestinians tried to overcome them.
But between excitement, there are frequent notes of caution, disappointment and sometimes horror. The roads are lined with ruins. Israeli drones are still buzzing for most of the day. Hamas’s Gazan critics were disappointed to see that the group officers were still controlling the pedestrian route.
Along the inland route for cars, the driver encountered long traffic jams; Foreign security contractors are authorized by Israel to screen the vehicles to the north for weapons, slow cars to crawl.
Contractors include Egyptians working, officials said, for private companies. Their presence offers a vision for the future of Gaza, in which outsiders continue to decide the fate of the residents; Israeli leaders consider contractors to be a test ball for a larger international force to monitor the land instead of the Palestinian leadership.
After passing the checkpoint, the Palestinians finally witnessed with their own eyes, the devastation they only saw in videos from social media.
North Gaza has become a wasteland, after the violent Israeli air strikes and the destruction of military buildings, many of which have been trapped and explosive by Hamas. In recent months, the fierce battle between Israel and Hamas, continued until the start of a ceasefire, causing particularly common damage in the north of Gaza city.
The destruction we passed is worse than the end of the world, Mr. Shehada, a textile producer. I was afraid that I was walking through the corpses buried under the rubble.
After coming to his house in Gaza, Shehada was surprised to see that it was only small damage.
But others return to ruins, and the neighborhoods they are no longer recognized.
Where is the local gas station? Neighbor’s house? Nearby roundabout?
In many cases, these localities have disappeared.
Thanks to God, we survived this war, Mr. Shorouq al-Qur, 27, graduated from the law who returned to the city of Gaza. But, she said, regardless of where we find a shelter, whether here or there, it is still a life in the tent, surrounded by destruction and sadness.
Adam Rasgon and Aaron Boxerman contributed reports from Jerusalem.
