Palestinians return to find what is left of their homes

As Abdel Fattah al-Kurdi made the long journey back to Gaza City, he found himself getting lost.

- Seham Tantesh, William Christou

Though he left the city just weeks ago, he could no longer recognise its streets. The buildings he had grown up in between had collapsed, their contents carpeting the roads in a mixture of destroyed furniture and broken concrete.

Al-Kurdi could only recognise the Netzarim checkpoint marking his entry into north Gaza by the bodies lying at its feet - those who had tried to return home too early, their faces obscured by dust after being cut down by Israeli fire.

"The city looks completely different, as if it is no longer the Gaza we once knew. In just a short time, massive destruction has spread everywhere. Almost all of the houses are destroyed, the streets blocked," said al-Kurdi, a 40-year-old resident of Gaza City, as he returned to his home in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood.

Al-Kurdi was one of the thousands of people of Gaza who took advantage of the ceasefire announced yesterday to travel back to their homes in northern Gaza. Videos showed a coastal highway clogged with crowds, many on foot, making their way northwards.

For the first time since a previous ceasefire collapsed in mid-March, fighting had stopped in Gaza. Hamas and Israel agreed to stop fighting to prepare for the release of 48 Israeli hostages held in Gaza and nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in an agreement that is meant to lead to a complete end to the two-year war.