Palestinians return to Northern Gaza

Moments after returning home to an affluent neighborhood in northern Gaza, 44-year-old Sabrine Zanoun said she was overwhelmed with a mix of emotions.

“We were happy to see our family again… [but] It’s also very sad when you cry – the destroyed houses, the rubble,” she told the BBC.

“People would come here just to hike because of the beautiful scenery. Now it’s mostly destruction.”

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

The mass return comes a week into a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas that aims to permanently end a war that began more than 15 months ago.

Like others in Gaza, she has been displaced several times throughout the war, but most recently in the central city of Deir al-Balah.

She joined a “flood” of people walking along the Al-Rashid coastal road – a route opened to displaced Gazans early Monday morning.

A security official in Gaza told AFP news agency that more than 200,000 people crossed into the northern part of the strip on foot over a two-hour period.

The Palestinian spoke to the BBC while making the journey.

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

“Until the middle of the road, people were happy and singing and things like that, but then when it took a long time people were disappointed. Then we reached a sign that said ‘Welcome to Gaza’ and lots of Palestinian flags And people started to feel joy again,” she said.

Others make the journey by car along a different route.

“There are thousands of people here. They are filling the entire road,” she said on the phone as she neared the checkpoint.

When people arrived at their destinations, they spoke of their shock at what still stood in their community.

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

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

“The warmth of the reunion was overshadowed by the bitter reality – we no longer had a house so we moved from a tent in the south to a tent in the north,” she said.

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

One man said he would “run north like I was in a race” if he didn’t have his pregnant wife and baby daughter with him. Instead, they hoped for the large crowds to pass, and set off slowly on their journey 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 return now. He “called and said the houses were destroyed to the ground. People were sleeping in the streets and no one was helping them.”

In the wealthy neighborhood of Tel al-Hawa, Sabrine said she was grateful to be back with her family and in a house that was still standing.

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

Additional reporting by Muath al-Khatib