TEL AVIV — Buildings burnt out and reduced to rubble were all that was left to return to for thousands of displaced Palestinians who made the journey back to northern Gaza on foot this week after more than a year away.
“Everything is destroyed as you can see. Nothing remains,” Asma Qaoud told NBC News’ crew on the ground on Monday in what remained of the Jabalia refugee camp.
“Everything has been devastated — our homes and our hearts,” Qaoud, 32, said asshe sat in front of a collapsed building surrounded by rubble.
She was one of thousands of displaced Palestinians to make the trek back to northern Gaza after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect on Sunday and brought to a halt Israeli forces’ 15-month offensive in the enclave. The first days of the truce have seen the release of the first hostages held in Gaza by Hamas, as well as Palestinians held in Israeli custody.
According to the United Nations, around 90% of Gaza’s population — nearly 1.9 million people — have been displaced from their homes and forced to live in tent camps and other makeshift shelters. The U.N. has previously estimated that around 60% of Gaza’s infrastructure has been destroyed, including schools and hospitals.
Across the enclave, video captured by NBC News showed similar scenes of ash-covered buildings and streets lined with the shattered debris from homes and shops. The Gaza Civil Defense on Tuesday said in a post on Telegram that 66 bodies were pulled from rubble across Gaza on Monday.
Like many others, the war has cost Qaoud more than just her home.
“My brother was killed,” she said, explaining to NBC News that she found his body upon her return to the Jabalia refugee camp. Her husband, meanwhile, was still being held in Israeli custody as she tried to figure out where to sleep and how her next days and weeks would look.
More than 47,000 people have been killed in Israel’s offensive in Gaza, according to local health officials, though researchers estimate the death toll is likely significantly higher, with thousands of people still missing and feared buried under the rubble.
