Back to the North... Joys Mixed with Tears in Gaza

Vehicles are crowded with people on their way back to the northern Gaza Strip via Rashid Coastal Street and Salah al-Din Street, and everyone's feelings of joy at returning are mixed with the shock of seeing the massive destruction.

Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinian families are flocking from the south and center of the Gaza Strip to its north, via Rashid Coastal Street in the west and Salah al-Din Street in the east, after a forced displacement that lasted for about 15 months, due to the war of genocide launched by the Israeli occupation, forcing them to leave their homes.

The return of the displaced came after new understandings reached by mediators between Hamas and the Israeli occupation, stipulating the return of the displaced in exchange for the handover of the Israeli detainee Arbel Yehud and others in the coming days, while the Islamic Resistance Movement "Hamas" announced that it had handed over to the mediators the required information about the prisoners who will be released during the first phase of the ceasefire agreement.

A Palestinian security official in the Gaza Strip revealed on Monday morning that "more than two hundred thousand displaced persons arrived in Gaza City and areas north of the Strip within the first two hours" of being allowed to cross northward. Gaza police confirmed that hundreds of its personnel were deployed on both sides of the roads used by the displaced persons to "organize and secure their passage northward."

The government media office in Gaza said that "the occupation destroyed more than 90% of the buildings and infrastructure in the Gaza Strip and northern Gaza Strip governorates during the war," noting that "Gaza City and northern Gaza Strip need 135,000 tents and caravans (mobile homes) immediately."

More than two hundred thousand people arrived in the northern Gaza Strip within the first two hours

Since Monday morning, the streets of the Gaza and North governorates have witnessed active movement of Palestinians waiting for their relatives returning from the south and center. Palestinian Hanan al-Za'anin was looking right and left as she waited for the return of her children coming from the south of the Strip. She said: "I am waiting for my children to return with great impatience. May God reunite me with them in peace and safety." Al-Za'anin, who lives in the town of Beit Hanoun in the far north of Gaza, added to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed: "Thank God the road is open. I will meet my children after an absence of more than a year, and God willing, we will rebuild our homes and houses. Until then, we will set up a tent and live in it, as the occupation bombed our house."

Palestinian Mohammed Halawa arrived with his family at 5:30 a.m. to await the return of his relatives from the southern Gaza Strip. He said: “I am waiting for my daughter, my brother and many of my loved ones. It is a great victory that they have returned after more than 15 months of great suffering.”

When Halawa's family arrived, he lost his temper and began crying with his wife out of longing. He says, "My feelings are indescribable. Thank God I met my family after the occupation had separated us throughout the war. We are a people who are steadfast and persevering on our land, and despite all the destruction and devastation that has befallen the Gaza Strip, we will rebuild again. We are a people who deserve life."

For his part, hope began to creep into the heart of Palestinian Sobhi Arafat after hours of frustration he experienced last Saturday, when the occupation army prevented him from heading to Gaza City. As he walked back north, he confirmed that a feeling of hope mixed with joy took hold of him as the displaced Palestinians began to enter via the sea road. He told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed: “It is an indescribable feeling, and this is the moment I have been waiting for for months of forced displacement. I am returning with two of my brothers and a number of my friends on foot, while my older brother Mohammed will return in the car carrying the women, children and some light supplies via Salah al-Din Street. We will meet in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of Gaza City, and then we will know the fate of our home and our residential area.”

In turn, the displaced Palestinian, Abeer Abu Al-Khair, says that she had been waiting continuously for news of the return since she was forced to flee, and when the ceasefire was decided and the agreement entered into force, she waited for the date of permission to reach northern Gaza, then the recent disagreements arose, so she feared that this would delay the return, before the displaced were allowed to return.

Abu al-Khair told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that she and her family had lived through difficult times near the Netzarim corridor. Her husband had dismantled the tent last Friday in the hope of implementing the agreement on Sunday, but the delay in returning forced them to spend the night in the street amid harsh living and humanitarian conditions.

Palestinian Fayez Muqdad walked slowly from exhaustion and fatigue. He said, “Despite the long and arduous journey, my feelings are indescribable. Finally, we will be able to return to northern Gaza, despite all those conspiring against the Palestinian people.” He told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, “I was displaced at the beginning of the war, and thank God we have returned to our homes. We will stay in the Gaza Strip, and we will not leave for any other country. I will immediately return to my home in the Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, and the family will be together again.”

The agreement includes three stages. The first stage, which lasts for 42 days, includes a ceasefire, the withdrawal and redeployment of the occupation forces outside densely populated areas, the exchange of prisoners and detainees, the exchange of the remains of the deceased, as well as the return of the displaced to their places of residence in the Strip, and facilitating the departure of the sick and wounded abroad to receive treatment.

According to Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the UN independent investigator on the right to adequate housing, the Gaza Strip has been subjected to an “unprecedented barrage of destruction,” and the “brutality” of the destruction in Gaza is not seen in the conflicts in Syria or Ukraine. Between 60% and 70% of all homes in Gaza have been destroyed; in northern Gaza, 82% of homes.”

Rajagopal said a recent report by the United Nations Development Programme estimated that, in May, there were more than 39 million tons of debris in Gaza, mixed with unexploded ordnance, toxic waste, asbestos from collapsed buildings and other materials. “The groundwater and soil contamination are so catastrophic that we don’t know if they can be remedied in time for people to return to normal life, at least in this generation,” he said. “First, the rubble has to be removed, second, there has to be funding, and then there is the other big problem: reconstruction can only happen if the occupation ends.”

New Arab