‘Half is our house’: Palestinians face the most fear in North Gaza

Adam Bartavi expected the best when he returned to his family home in the north of Gaza after more than a year – but was surprised at what he got.

“Half of our house has gone,” 31-year-old told the BBC to the ruins where he lived in the northern city of Al-Zahra.

“It seems that it was bulldozed – the living room has gone, the kitchen has gone, most of it has gone. There is only one thing remaining two rooms and a bathroom … If I leave now, they should be looted. Could, “he said.

Adam is one of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who returned it to north as Israel allowed the displaced residents to return on Monday.

This return is a result of the ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel that aims to permanently end the war that Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023.

A United Nations official told the BBC that to ensure that major services were provided to those who were provided with major services, “large -scale effort” was done to ensure that the north was provided.

A person who returned to his home in Jabia told the BBC that it was not possible to describe the destruction around him.

48-year-old Imad Ali al-Jen said, “When you are cleaning a place to insert a tent, you are talking to me … we are trying to manage ourselves and find a way to stay here It is, “48-year-old Imad Ali al-Jen said. phone.

“I was happy and chanting back on the way, but when I reached my house I was disappointed in front of me because of the devastating scene. I wanted me to never come.”

The United Nations estimates that about 70% of the Gaza strip buildings have been damaged or destroyed since October 2023, with a lot with the worst destruction in the north.

Sam Rose, Acting Director of the United Nations agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza, said that the BBC The population will be “doubled in the next few days” in North Gaza “.

He said, “What they are doing, many of them are visuals of complete destruction. They know before the journey they know their homes are likely to be destroyed or seriously damaged, but they anyway Want to go home, “he said.

“Since the ceasefire came into force a week ago, basic aid supply is coming, so we are able to provide food, some water, basic shelter supply, especially weaker cases. But it is a massive scale. But, among us. “

Many more people are preparing to travel from south to north in the coming days, on foot or vehicle.

A telecom activist Ihb Qarakeh, a telecom activist, who was displaced from mid -October 2023, said he had waited to see how the first day of the return came to light before he was established.

“We sent some members of our family tomorrow and now we are planning to leave. We are waiting for the car to arrive so that we can start packing and go,” he said.

A person spoke on Monday by the BBC who was preparing to travel with his heavy pregnant wife, he said that he was closed, but turned back.

32 -year -old Khalil Shabir said, “It was very difficult for us. I was afraid that she would face complications. She is eight months pregnant. So we came back (we came back to wait at a relative’s house in Central Gaza ). “

“Even using a car, the road feels infinite – the line of cars is endless when you see it.”

Additional reporting by Muth al-Khatib