Palestinians Return to find Gaza in ruins

Palestinians returning to their homes in Gaza City this week found a city in ruins after 15 months of fighting, with many seeking shelter amongst the rubble and searching for relatives lost in the chaotic return march.

Gaza City, in the north of the enclave, is a shell of the bustling urban centre it was before the war, with swathes of buildings destroyed by Israeli bombardments and piles of rubble and torn-up concrete on every side.

“Look at this scene, there is nothing to say,” said a man who gave his name as Abu Mohammad as he searched for a place to settle. “People will sleep on the ground. There is nothing left.”

Many of those returning, often laden with what personal possessions they still have after months of being moved around as the battlegrounds shifted, had trekked 20 km (12 miles) or more along the coastal highway north.

“I am waiting for my father, mother and brother. We lost them on the way,” said Jameel Abed, who walked up from the central area of the Gaza Strip. “We found some lights here and we are waiting for them,” he said.

“There is no car, no tuktuk, no donkey cart, no vehicle, nothing that could move on this road.”

By late on Monday, Gaza’s Hamas authorities said more than 300,000 people, or almost half of those displaced from the north during the war, had crossed into Gaza City and the north edge of the enclave from areas in the south.

Even as those who arrived in Gaza looked around for somewhere to settle down, tens of thousands were still moving north as mediators began preliminary work on the second stage of ceasefire negotiations due to begin next week.

In Cairo, a high-level Hamas team led by Mohammad Darwish, head of the group’s leading council, held talks with Egyptian mediators, and welcomed 70 Palestinian prisoners who arrived in Cairo prior to being moved to third countries who would be willing to host them, a Hamas statement said.

These include Qatar, Turkey, and Algeria, according to Hamas and other sources.

Reuters/Ejiofor Ezeifeoma