Palestinians return to ruined homes in north Gaza as ceasefire sparks exodus "from one hard place to another"
The United Nations estimates that about 200,000 displaced Palestinians have returned to the shattered northern part of the Gaza Strip since Israel authorized their movement on Monday. CBS News' team in Gaza followed one man among the masses making the trek back home, to see what was left of his life before the war.
Men, women, children and even entire families set off as soon as the Israeli military pulled its troops out and opened the road stretching from north to south along Gaza's Mediterranean coast for the first time in more than a year.
Since Monday, the coast road has been a slow-flowing river of people on the move, most of them unsure what 15 months of bombing and warfare has left of their neighborhoods.
As the displaced make their way back north, carrying what few belongings they can, Hamas fighters have kept watch, and they've been on a charm offensive.
It was their brutal Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel that sparked the devastating war. But their visible presence throughout Gaza also makes the point that, despite Israel's stated goal of destroying the group with its counterattack, Hamas remains not only there, but in charge.
Among the thousands walking up the dusty coast road on Monday was Monzer al-Sharafi, who had spent months in a tent with many members of his family.
"Life in the tent is unbearable. It is painful and saddening," he told CBS News as his daughter helped him gather a few belongings for the long walk back north. "In the summer, we are baked like in an oven, and in winter, we feel like we are in a freezer."
Still, as he left his loved ones behind, al-Sharafi was apprehensive.
"I will check what is going on and come back," he said, kissing his daughter. "Inshallah, everything will be alright."
"It is mixed feelings," he said, "but I am dancing with joy. I wonder if my house is still standing or not. I am going to meet my parents there. I haven't seen them for 15 months. I've been in the south and they've been in the north. I am excited, but I still have mixed feelings... it's the sadness we've endured, and it's the joy of meeting our loved ones and stopping the bloodbath in Gaza."
He met some old friends along the way, and they all seemed amazed and overjoyed to find themselves and each other alive.
But the joy of the three-hour homeward walk was tempered by the destruction all around al-Sharafi along the coast road. It did nothing to ease the anxiety over what was waiting at the end of the journey.
"What is all this destruction? Our beautiful Gaza is no longer pretty. The IDF destroyed everything… They destroyed the trees, the buildings, and the human beings," he told CBS News. "I see destruction everywhere I look. I can't recognize the streets and my way in Gaza. I feel like I am a foreigner. It feels like I left Gaza for 15 years, not 15 months."
At last, he reached his old neighborhood in the city of Jabalia. He bent down to kiss the ground, but al-Sharafi said he couldn't believe his eyes at the level of destruction.
He did, however, find his parents, alive and as well as could be expected. It was his father who delivered the gut-punch, when al-Sharafi said he wanted to go and find his apartment building.
"It is completely flattened, to the ground now," his father told him.
"It doesn't matter, you are safe!" consoled his mother.
"This is my where I spent my childhood, and my life," he told CBS News, looking at the spot where home had been. There was almost nothing left.
"This is my mattress and this is my sweater. This is my children's bag," he said, picking through the rubble.
"This is my daughter's teddy bear," he said, breaking down in tears. "I lost all my memories. My home is gone, my family photos are gone. We don't have a home anymore."
Like hundreds of thousands of other returnees in Gaza, the future for al-Sharafi, even if the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas does hold, is entirely uncertain. But he said he was determined to rebuild his life, with his family, in the place they have always called home.
"I left my family in the tent because I was certain the journey from the south to the north would be painful," he explained. "I'd hoped to at least find a room still standing. Sadly, they are in a tent there, and I will bring them here to another tent. I will bring them from one hard place to another. I will take my daughter Lulu's teddy bear. This is the only thing left, and I will take it to our tent in the south."
Then, through the tears and despair, shone al-Sharafi's resilience.
"We will rebuild our home again. We will rebuild it even if they destroy it a million times. This is our land, and it is our soil."