Palestinians return to northern Gaza

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

She told the BBC: “We are happy to see our family again… (but) it is also sad to make you cry – the destroyed houses, the rubble.”

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

Sabreen was one of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced to return to their homes, or rubble in place, in northern Gaza on Monday.

The week-long mass return to a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas aimed at permanently ending the war comes more than 15 months early.

Like others in Gaza, she has been isolated several times over the course of the war, but most recently in the central city of Deir Bala.

She joined a “flood of people” who traveled on foot along Al-Rashid Al-Sahili Street – a road that opened to displaced Ghazans early Monday morning.

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

The Palestinians spoke to the BBC while making the trip.

“It was very long and tiring,” said 24-year-old Israa Shaheen, shortly after arriving in Gaza City.

“Until halfway through, people were happy and singing and things like that, but then it was taking a long time. And people were starting to feel joy again.”

Others made the trip by car along a different route.

“There are thousands of people here. They fill the entire road… We are very happy but I also feel sad because I know that I will reach Gaza City but my home is no longer there.” She said on the phone as she approached the checkpoint.

When people arrived at their destinations, they spoke of their shock at what remained standing in their communities.

Muhammad Ameleddine, a barber who had been waiting at the checkpoint, returned to find his home destroyed, his salon looted and damaged by a nearby Israeli strike.

Loubna Nassar was waiting 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 harsh reality – we no longer had 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 trips home or decide on their next steps.

One man said he would “run north like I was running” if he didn't have his pregnant wife and young daughter with him. Instead, they hoped the large crowds would pass by, and slowly set off on their journey home. He said they expect to find a lot from their neighborhood.

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

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

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

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

Additional reporting by Moth Al-Khatib