For the first time since the 15-month genocide in Gaza, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have made their way back to the severely damaged north of the Gaza Strip.
Following a two-day delay in Hamas and Israel’s decision to release an Israeli captive, the return is in accordance with a fragile ceasefire agreement that was reached a week ago. The ceasefire aims to put an end to the most bloody and destructive conflict that has ever taken place in Gaza and to bring down Hamas and Israel’s prisoners’ release, respectively.
Palestinians, who for all these months had been sheltering in squalid tent camps and schools-turned-shelters, are eager to return to what is left of their homes, likely damaged or destroyed due to the Israeli assault.
Hamas said the return was “a victory for our people, and a declaration of failure and defeat for the]Israeli] occupation and transfer plans”.
In the first few days of the war in October 2023, Israel had decreed the complete annihilation of the north, and ground troops immediately responded by capturing it.
Some of the heaviest fighting and the worst destruction caused by the war occurred in the north, where about a million people flung to the south, and thousands more remained there.
Source: Aljazeera
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