Palestinians return to northern Gaza as Israel-Hamas ceasefire holds

Tens of thousands of forcibly displaced Palestinians are returning to devastated towns and cities in northern Gaza as the Israeli military ceases fire and partially withdraws from the territory under the first phase of a peace deal with Hamas.

US President Donald Trump said Israeli captives held in Gaza are due for release on Monday. “They’re getting them now,” he said.

Since this morning, we have seen families walking towards Gaza City.

We saw children, women, elderly, cars, vans, donkey carts loaded with furniture. Families removed their makeshift tents to take and reset them over the ruins of their destroyed homes in Gaza City.

People were forced to leave Gaza City due to the bombardment. They found no space when they turned up to the central and southern parts of Gaza.

This return is seen as historic but it needs to be accompanied by concrete steps in order to alleviate the humanitarian crisis.

Palestinians can barely find any building left standing in Gaza City as a result of the Israeli military operation. There is now a pressing need for makeshift tents and mobile houses to shelter these families.