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Monday, February 17, 2025

Gaza Strip. Palestinians are returning home after the ceasefire, and many find only rubble waiting for them. Residents' accounts

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This is my home where I feel safe, warm and happy. Eventually my children will return to their rooms, to their warm beds, to their toys. There are no words that can describe what I feel now, says Nirmin Moussi. With the Hamas-Israel ceasefire coming into force, Palestinians from across the Gaza Strip are returning home. Or to what remains of the places they once called it.

Palestinians who were displaced as a result conflict in the Gaza Stripare gradually returning to their homes, although some of them were destroyed in the attacks. In the north, where the heaviest bombing continued, people made their way Sunday on narrow roads through a landscape filled with rubble.

“I feel like I've finally found water to drink after 15 months of wandering in the desert,” says Aya, a woman displaced from the main city of Gaza who has been hiding in Deir Al-Balah in the central part of the Strip for over a year. – I feel like I'm alive again – he adds.

“They want to experience their first moment of joy in over a year.”

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Many people roamed the northern part of the Strip, carrying their belongings on donkey carts or bicycles and looking for homes.

Ismail Zaida, who lives in Gaza, told CNN that he saw many “people carrying some of their belongings and returning to northern Gaza.” – People are happy, even if they want to return to their destroyed homes. They want to experience their first moment of joy in over a year, he added.

SEE PREMIUM TEXT: “Until now it was Israel versus terrorists. Now it turns out that there are also Palestinians.”

For Nirmin Moussi, the memory of her own home is the main one she carries in her heart. During the first month of fighting, it was relocated to Deir al Balah in the central part of the Strip.

– This is my home where I feel safe, warm and happy. Eventually my children will return to their rooms, to their warm beds, to their toys. There are no words that can describe what I feel now. I'm so happy, but still sad. I'm happy because I'm finally coming home, I'm going to see my family who I miss, she said in an interview with CNN.

Palestinians are returning home. Many of them are in ruinsHassan Jedi / Anadolu/ABACAPRESS.COM / Forum

“I have four houses, all razed to the ground”

Crowds are also returning to Rafah in the south, which was hit extremely hard by the war. Mahmoud Abu Hilal was shocked to see what was once his home. – I have four houses, all razed to the ground. Where am I now? Is this my house? Is this my life? – he asks.

Read also: The tribunal in The Hague ordered Israel to halt its offensive in Rafah

Mohammad Al Qadi is also distraught. – We are defeated. We have no life. We will live on the streets. I came hoping to see that my house was still standing, but it was destroyed, he says.

“The thought that we can sleep through the night without fear is a real relief.”

Some Palestinians celebrated the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel in the streets, but there were also those for whom it was a bittersweet moment.

– The experience is joyful. Even though we are entering a difficult and uncertain phase, the thought that we no longer lose loved ones, that we can sleep through the night without fear of losing someone close to us, is a real relief, says Hala Shehada from the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

CNN journalists also talked to 73-year-old Hassan Matar. When the war broke out, he was in Cairo. And that's how he lived from that moment on Egyptthey can't come back.

– I haven't slept since yesterday. I just want to go back since we were allowed to go back, he says, adding that the first thing he would like to do after returning is to see his family and loved ones. – I miss my country very much and I'm really happy that we will come back – he added.

The war between Israel and Hamas is a consequence of the attack on Israel by this organization and the coalition of Islamist militias supporting it, which was carried out on October 7, 2023. The massacre committed by terrorists killed over 1.2 thousand people. people, including citizens of over 30 countries, and 251 people were abducted to the Gaza Strip.

In response to these events, Israel launched a large-scale military operation in the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian authorities, over 46,000 people died as a result. civilians, and over 100 thousand were injured. The Gaza Strip is in ruins, there is a humanitarian crisis, and most of the inhabitants have had to flee their homes.

On Sunday at 11:15 a.m. local time, an agreement between Israel and Hamas came into force regarding a ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.

Main photo source: Hassan Jedi / Anadolu/ABACAPRESS.COM / Forum



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