Reuters
Thousands of displaced Palestinians trekked over the wastelands of Gaza to return to the ruins of their abandoned homes on Friday, after a ceasefire took effect and Israeli troops began pulling back under the first phase of an agreement to end the war.
A huge column of people filed on foot north along the coastal road overlooking sandy beaches towards Gaza City, the enclave's biggest urban area, which had been under attack just days ago in one of Israel's biggest offensives of the war.
"Thank God my house is still standing," Ismail Zayda, 40, said in the Sheikh Radwan district of Gaza City. "But the place is destroyed, my neighbours' houses are destroyed, entire districts have gone."
In the south, people picked their way through the dusty moonscape that was once Gaza's second-largest city, Khan Younis, which Israeli forces razed this year. Most walked in silence.
A middle-aged man, Ahmed al-Brim, was pushing a bicycle with bundles of scrap timber tied to the front and back: his family would need the firewood to cook. It was all they had been able to recover from the ruins of their home.
"We went to our area. It was exterminated. We don't know where we will go after that," he said. "We couldn't get the furniture, or clothes, or anything, not even winter clothes. Nothing is left."
Palestinian health authorities said medical teams were able to recover 100 bodies from areas across the Gaza Strip after the army pulled back.
Even as Gazans headed home, questions loomed about whether the ceasefire and hostage-prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas, the biggest step yet toward ending two years of war, would lead to a lasting peace under U.S. President Donald Trump's 20-point plan to end the war.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump expressed confidence the ceasefire would hold, saying: "They're all tired of the fighting." He said he believed there was a "consensus" on the next steps but acknowledged some details would still have to be worked out.
A huge column of people filed on foot north along the coastal road overlooking sandy beaches towards Gaza City, the enclave's biggest urban area, which had been under attack just days ago in one of Israel's biggest offensives of the war.
"Thank God my house is still standing," Ismail Zayda, 40, said in the Sheikh Radwan district of Gaza City. "But the place is destroyed, my neighbours' houses are destroyed, entire districts have gone."
In the south, people picked their way through the dusty moonscape that was once Gaza's second-largest city, Khan Younis, which Israeli forces razed this year. Most walked in silence.
A middle-aged man, Ahmed al-Brim, was pushing a bicycle with bundles of scrap timber tied to the front and back: his family would need the firewood to cook. It was all they had been able to recover from the ruins of their home.
"We went to our area. It was exterminated. We don't know where we will go after that," he said. "We couldn't get the furniture, or clothes, or anything, not even winter clothes. Nothing is left."
Palestinian health authorities said medical teams were able to recover 100 bodies from areas across the Gaza Strip after the army pulled back.
Even as Gazans headed home, questions loomed about whether the ceasefire and hostage-prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas, the biggest step yet toward ending two years of war, would lead to a lasting peace under U.S. President Donald Trump's 20-point plan to end the war.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump expressed confidence the ceasefire would hold, saying: "They're all tired of the fighting." He said he believed there was a "consensus" on the next steps but acknowledged some details would still have to be worked out.
