After 15 months of conflict, the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas came into effect yesterday. However, the joy of Gazans, who celebrated the truce, quickly turned to despair as they returned to find their homes in ruins.
Jomaa Shadi was among those who returned to assess the damage to his house north of Nuseirat.
“The end of the bloodshed is an indescribable sensation. I am grateful to God for surviving this war. But upon returning to my home, all I found was devastation and desolation,” he shared.
“I constructed this house piece by piece, and now, when I came back, it is unrecognizable.”
Drone footage released by the United Nations showcased extensive destruction in the Safatawi region of northern Gaza as displaced residents started to return to their bombed neighborhoods.
According to medical officials in Gaza, over 47,000 Palestinians have lost their lives due to Israeli strikes.
The vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are now homeless. Approximately 400 Israeli soldiers have also died in the conflict.
The ceasefire stipulates that fighting must cease, aid should be sent into Gaza, and 33 of the nearly 100 remaining Israeli and foreign hostages will be released during the first six-week phase in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons.
