GAZA: Columns of people hundreds strong were making their way northward from Gaza City to Jabalia on Sunday, flanked on both sides by countless buildings turned to rubble, as a ceasefire took effect in the Palestinian territory. In places, they crossed an ashen landscape, heaped with pulverised concrete and studded with the skeletons of ruined buildings. They walked through a haze of dust raised by the movement of hundreds of feet and vehicles over sandy soil on roads stripped of their paving. In parts where the pavement remained, it was covered by layers of dust and debris. On either side of the road, former apartment buildings lay collapsed after months of Israeli shelling and air strikes during a military operation focused intently on the north of the Palestinian territory.
Despite the damage, Sunday gave way to scenes of joy and jubilation, despite the ceasefire being delayed by several hours. In the southern city of Khan Yunis, crowds gathered in the streets and cheered as armed men paraded in pick-ups, Kalashnikov assault rifles held aloft, firing into the air in celebration. Hundreds of people gathered at a junction playing drums, waving Palestinian flags and chanting.
"This joy is more beautiful than the joy of Eid, and this is the most beautiful pleasure," a man said from the window of his car, which was packed with his family and all his belongings. "I'm going to Rafah," he added excitedly, even as his car was forced to a complete stop by the mass of celebrating Palestinians.
In Rafah, Gaza's southernmost city, people began returning in droves before the ceasefire even went into effect, with Israel having delayed the implementation by nearly three hours, saying it had not received a list of captives to be released by Hamas.
The war in Gaza was sparked by the surprise October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, according to Israeli official figures. Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 46,913 people, mostly civilians, according to figures from the territory's health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.
"The residents have returned to the city of Rafah, even though it is no longer a city. Thousands of citizens are on their way back," said Muhammad al-Shaer, a displaced resident. Taking all their remaining belongings with them, residents moved by truck, donkey-drawn cart, bicycle and on foot towards Rafah, carrying everything from large water tanks to mattresses. In the central city of Nuseirat, jubilant children thronged the streets, and members of Hamas's security forces patrolled armed and in uniform shortly before the ceasefire came into effect.
In Gaza City, a convoy of bulldozers set to clearing the streets of rubble and rubbish accumulated during the last 15 months, in which public services were halted by the war. In the distance, celebratory gunshots echoed. Gaza City's spokesman Asem Alnabih said on X that the city would facilitate the return of its residents.
Trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza on Sunday after a truce went into effect, the United Nations said. "First trucks of supplies started entering" minutes after the ceasefire took effect on Sunday morning, UN aid official Jonathan Whittall, interim chief of the UN's OCHA aid agency for the Palestinian territories, said on X. "A massive effort has been underway over the past days from humanitarian partners to load and prepare to distribute a surge of aid across all of Gaza." — AFP
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