The United Nations estimates that about 200,000 displaced Palestinians have returned to the shattered northern a part of the Gaza Strip since Israel authorized their movement on Monday. CBS Information’ group in Gaza adopted one man among the many plenty making the trek again dwelling, to see what was left of his life earlier than the conflict.
Males, girls, kids and even complete households set off as quickly because the Israeli navy pulled its troops out and opened the street stretching from north to south alongside Gaza’s Mediterranean coast for the primary time in additional than a 12 months.
Since Monday, the coast street has been a slow-flowing river of individuals on the transfer, most of them not sure what 15 months of bombing and warfare has left of their neighborhoods.
OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP/Getty
Because the displaced make their manner again north, carrying what few belongings they’ll, Hamas fighters have stored watch, and so they’ve been on a appeal offensive.
It was their brutal Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist assault on Israel that sparked the devastating conflict. However their seen presence all through Gaza additionally makes the purpose that, regardless of Israel’s said aim of destroying the group with its counterattack, Hamas stays not solely there, however in cost.
Among the many 1000’s strolling up the dusty coast street on Monday was Monzer al-Sharafi, who had spent months in a tent with many members of his household.
“Life within the tent is insufferable. It’s painful and saddening,” he instructed CBS Information as his daughter helped him collect a number of belongings for the lengthy stroll again north. “In the summertime, we’re baked like in an oven, and in winter, we really feel like we’re in a freezer.”
Nonetheless, as he left his family members behind, al-Sharafi was apprehensive.
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“I’ll verify what’s going on and are available again,” he mentioned, kissing his daughter. “Inshallah, all the things will probably be alright.”
“It’s blended emotions,” he mentioned, “however I’m dancing with pleasure. I’m wondering if my home continues to be standing or not. I’m going to satisfy my dad and mom there. I have never seen them for 15 months. I have been within the south and so they’ve been within the north. I’m excited, however I nonetheless have blended emotions… it is the unhappiness we have endured, and it is the enjoyment of assembly our family members and stopping the massacre in Gaza.”
He met some previous buddies alongside the best way, and so they all appeared amazed and overjoyed to search out themselves and one another alive.
However the pleasure of the three-hour homeward stroll was tempered by the destruction throughout al-Sharafi alongside the coast street. It did nothing to ease the nervousness over what was ready on the finish of the journey.
“What’s all this destruction? Our lovely Gaza is now not fairly. The IDF destroyed all the things… They destroyed the timber, the buildings, and the human beings,” he instructed CBS Information. “I see destruction all over the place I look. I can not acknowledge the streets and my manner in Gaza. I really feel like I’m a foreigner. It looks like I left Gaza for 15 years, not 15 months.”
Ultimately, he reached his previous neighborhood within the metropolis of Jabalia. He bent all the way down to kiss the bottom, however al-Sharafi mentioned he could not consider his eyes on the stage of destruction.
He did, nonetheless, discover his dad and mom, alive and in addition to could possibly be anticipated. It was his father who delivered the gut-punch, when al-Sharafi mentioned he wished to go and discover his condominium constructing.
“It’s fully flattened, to the bottom now,” his father instructed him.
“It would not matter, you’re secure!” consoled his mom.
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“That is my the place I spent my childhood, and my life,” he instructed CBS Information, trying on the spot the place dwelling had been. There was nearly nothing left.
“That is my mattress and that is my sweater. That is my kids’s bag,” he mentioned, selecting by way of the rubble.
“That is my daughter’s teddy bear,” he mentioned, breaking down in tears. “I misplaced all my reminiscences. My house is gone, my household photographs are gone. We do not have a house anymore.”
Like tons of of 1000’s of different returnees in Gaza, the long run for al-Sharafi, even when the delicate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas does maintain, is totally unsure. However he mentioned he was decided to rebuild his life, together with his household, within the place they’ve all the time referred to as dwelling.
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“I left my household within the tent as a result of I used to be sure the journey from the south to the north can be painful,” he defined. “I would hoped to at the least discover a room nonetheless standing. Sadly, they’re in a tent there, and I’ll carry them right here to a different tent. I’ll carry them from one arduous place to a different. I’ll take my daughter Lulu’s teddy bear. That is the one factor left, and I’ll take it to our tent within the south.”
Then, by way of the tears and despair, shone al-Sharafi’s resilience.
“We are going to rebuild our dwelling once more. We are going to rebuild it even when they destroy it 1,000,000 occasions. That is our land, and it’s our soil.”
