'We're chasing what's left of life'

Gazans make journey home, even if the buildings have been reduced to rubble.

- BY BILAL SHBEIR AND NABIH BULOS

BILAL SHBEIR For The Times MOHAMMAD Abu Warda is surrounded by devastation in Jabaliya, Gaza. Many of the 2.1 million Gazans face similar circumstances.

The trailer creaked under the weight of mattresses, blankets, tents, a gas cylinder, weathered plastic barrels, burlap sacks of clothes, plastic chairs, gardening tools, various kitchen utensils and a toy tricycle — the collective belongings of Mohammad Abu Warda and his family.

Abu Warda, 34, tugged at the ropes securing the load and hitched the trailer to his tractor. He glanced for a moment at his mother, 60-year-old Bouthaina Warda, who was braiding his daughter's hair, then turned to look at the coastal highway heading northward to Gaza City.

It was time to go home.

“The last time we took this highway, we were escaping death,” Abu Warda said, his hands straining against the rope as he tightened it once more.

“Today, we're chasing what's left of life.”

All around him others were embarking on a similar journey, stacking whatever they had salvaged of their belongings onto whatever transportation they could manage. Donkey carts and tractors jostled for space with pickups and larger transport trucks, the diesel fumes mixing with dust and the salty sea air.

Every few hundred yards, more people would join on Al-Rashid Highway from the side streets, adding to the slow-moving deluge of hundreds of thousands returning home to see what - if anything remained of the lives they had in north Gaza.

BILAL SHBEIR For The Times