Palestinians returned to the Jabaliya refugee camp, where neighbourhoods have been reduced to ashes by Israeli forces [Getty]
Thousands of forcibly displaced Palestinians returning to northern Gaza this week were met by unrecognisable neighbourhoods with Israel’s 15-month bombardment reducing the area to an uninhabitable wasteland.
Following the ceasefire agreement, the mass return has revealed the staggering scale of devastation in areas such as Jabalia Camp, Beit Lahia, and Beit Hanoun.
Aerial footage showed blocked roads lined with the remnants of collapsed buildings and homes reduced to ashes. This is the new reality in northern Gaza; an area unfit for human habitation.
Schools and medical clinics, including those managed by UNRWA, have also suffered extensive damage from bombing and shelling. Kareem Hamdan, who fled to the Shati refugee camp in western Gaza City over 100 days ago, returned to his home in Beit Lahiya only to find rubble.
“I had hoped that, with the ceasefire, I could finally return to my family’s home,” he told The New Arab‘s Arabic language edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed. “But upon seeing the destruction, I felt overwhelmed with shock; our house was nothing but stones, and the surrounding neighbourhood had vanished.”
Despite the immense loss, Hamdan vowed to rebuild his town: “Our home may be gone, but we will stay here, on our land. We will live on the ruins, and we will rebuild this place, no matter the cost.”
Mohammad Khalil, a professor at Al-Azhar University in Gaza, also returned to his home in Jabalia only to find it decimated. Describing the carnage, he told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed: “It felt like a flood of memories and pain. The house was nothing but debris, and many of my family’s homes were the same.
“We have decided to stay in tents near the ruins, not because we have any other choice, but because we refuse to abandon our land. Jabalia and the entire north of Gaza are uninhabitable, but we will rebuild with our own hands.”
The destruction is the result of a relentless Israeli military assault aimed specifically at Gaza’s northern regions in October 2023. Northern areas were hit the hardest, with entire residential blocks demolished. Over 5,000 people were killed, and more than 9,500 were injured during this assault, according to the Gaza government’s media office.
In November, the United Nations concluded that Gaza was “unfit for human survival” and described the enclave as a “wasteland of rubble”.
Israeli forces ordered residents to quit towns, alleging rocket fire without providing evidence, fuelling speculation that Israel intends to occupy the area after its military offensive on Gaza ends.
During the military offensive, the Israeli army burned down Kamal Adwan Hospital, the most important health facility there, on 27 December 2024. Israel claimed its abducted director Hussam Abu Safiya was taken to the notorious Sde Teiman detention centre.
The ceasefire, which went into effect on 19 January has allowed some Palestinians to return to what is left of their homes while humanitarian organisations continue to bring vital supplies of aid into the Gaza Strip.
The deal, which includes a 42-day suspension of hostilities, primarily aimed at allowing humanitarian aid to reach the desperate civilians of Gaza.
Thirty-three Israeli captives will be released in the first phase of the agreement that could become a “permanent ceasefire”.
Also in the first phase, Israeli forces will withdraw from densely populated areas of Gaza to allow for the swap of prisoners, as well as the return of the displaced people to their residences.
Despite the agreement, Israel has launched a “large-scale and significant” military attack on Jenin on the third day of the truce. The Palestinian health ministry said that eight Palestinians have been killed and 35 wounded by Israeli forces in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.
