"Tens of thousands of exhausted Palestinians were returning to their ruined homes on Saturday, a day after a ceasefire between Israel and the militant Hamas group took effect in Gaza. Reuters news agency described a huge column of people traveling on foot north along the coastal road overlooking sandy beaches towards Gaza City, the enclave's largest urban area. Until Friday afternoon, the city was the target of one of Israel's biggest offensives of the war."
"Gaza civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said around 200,000 Palestinians had returned to northern Gaza since the ceasefire came into effect. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Gaza residents return to rubble "Thank God my house is still standing," Ismail Zayda said in the Sheikh Radwan district of Gaza City. "But the place is destroyed, my neighbors' houses are destroyed, entire districts have gone.""
"Another Palestinian, Mahdi Saqla, said his family had decided to set off north towards Gaza City as soon as they heard the news of the ceasefire. "There are no homes they've been destroyed," he said. "But we are happy just to return to where our homes were, even over the rubble. That too is a great joy. For two years, we've been suffering, displaced from place to place.""
Large numbers of Palestinians moved back toward Gaza City and other northern areas immediately after a ceasefire, forming long columns along coastal roads. Gaza civil defense reported roughly 200,000 people returned to northern Gaza since the ceasefire began. Many returnees found their neighborhoods and entire districts destroyed, with houses reduced to rubble and collapsed buildings containing bodies. In Khan Younis, hundreds encountered wrecked buildings and stripped homes while people attempted to recover remains. Some residents salvaged only a few clothes, pots, or timber for firewood. Returnees described relief at being back despite prolonged displacement and devastation.
Read at www.dw.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]