The Palestinians returned to northern Gaza

Shortly after returning to her home in an affluent neighborhood in northern Gaza, 44-year-old Sabrin Zanon said she was overcome with mixed emotions.

“We’re happy to see our family again… (but) it’s also very sad – the destroyed houses, the rubble,” she told the BBC.

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

Sabrin was one of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to the rubble of their homes or sites in northern Gaza on Monday.

The mass return came a week before a ceasefire was signed between Israel and Hamas to permanently end the 15-month-old war.

Like the rest of Gaza, it has been displaced several times during the war, but most recently in central Deir al-Ballah.

She joined a “flood of people” walking along the coastal al-Rashid Street, which opened to displaced Gazans on Monday morning.

A Gaza security official told Agence France-Presse that within two hours, more than 200,000 people had crossed into the northern Strip on foot.

The Palestinians interviewed the BBC as they made the journey.

“It was very long and tiring,” said Isra Shahin, 24, after arriving in Gaza City.

“Up until the middle of the road, people were happy and there were songs and things like that, but when it took a lot of time, people got upset. Then we got to a sign that said ‘Welcome to Gaza’ and a lot of Palestinian flags. And people started to feel happy again,” she said.

Others drove a different route.

“Thousands of people are here. They are filling the entire road… We are very happy, but I am sad to know that I will arrive in Gaza City,” 42-year-old Wafa Hassana said by phone as she arrived at the checkpoint.

As people reached their destination, they spoke of the shock that had been left in their communities.

The barber Muhammad Imad al-Din, who was waiting at the checkpoint, returned and his house was destroyed, and his salon was looted and damaged by the Israeli strike in the area.

Lubna Nassar was waiting with her two daughters and sons to meet her husband. But while he was still alive, their house was lost.

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

Others are still waiting to make their journey home or deciding on their next steps.

A man said that without his pregnant wife and young daughter, “I would run to the north like a race.” Instead, they began their slow journey home, hoping that the crowd would pass. He said they expected to find most of their settlements flattened.

“We believe that this war will end and we will rebuild all that was destroyed,” he said.

His other brother told him not to return for now. He “called and said… the houses are destroyed. People are sleeping on the streets and there is no one to help them.”

In the affluent neighborhood of Tell al-Hawa, Sabrin says she’s grateful to be back with her family and in a house that’s still standing.

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

Further report in Mu’at al-Katib