ReutersAdam Bartavi hoped for the best when he went back to his family home in the northern Gaza in more than a year – but he was shocked by what he found.
“There are no half of our house,” the 31-year-old told the BBC from the ruins, where he lived in the northern city of Al-Zahra.
“He seems to have been bulldous – the living room is gone.
Adam is one of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who returned it north as Israel allowed the displaced residents to start returning on Monday.
The return is the result of the fire termination deal between Hamas and Israel, which is aimed at a constant end of the war that began when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.
An employee of the United Nations organization told the BBC that “mass, massive efforts” were forthcoming to ensure that key services were provided to those returning north.
A man who returned to his home in Jabalia told the BBC that “it is not possible to describe” the destruction around him.
“You talk to me as I clean up space to put a tent … We're trying to handle it and find a way to live here,” said 48-year-old Imad Ali Al-Zeine over the phone.
“I was happy and chanted on my return, but when I got to my home, I was disappointed because of the catastrophic scene in front of me. I wanted to never come.”
The UN estimates that about 70% of the Gaza Strip buildings have been damaged or destroyed since October 2023, as much of the most severe destruction in the north.
Sam Rose, acting director of the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza, told the BBC that the population in North Gaza would probably “double the next few days”.
“What they return to, many are scenes of complete devastation. They know before traveling, that their homes are likely to be destroyed or badly damaged, but they want to go home anyway,” he said.
“Since the cessation of the fire came into force a week ago, there have been basic supplies for help, so we are able to provide food, some water, basic shelter deliveries, some monitoring of particularly vulnerable cases. But this is a huge, massive effort forward forward from us. “
Many more people are preparing to make the trip from south to north in the coming days, on foot or vehicle.
Ihab Qraqeh, a telecommunication worker who has been displaced since mid -October 2023, said he waited to see how the first day of the return had evolved before he retired.
“We have sent some of our family members yesterday and now we plan to go. We expect the car to come so that we can start packing and go,” he said.
A man he was talking to on Monday, who was preparing for his trip with his highly pregnant wife, said they left, but turned back.
“It was too hard for us. I was afraid that she would suffer complications. She was eight months pregnant. So we returned (to wait at the home of a relative in Central Gaza),” said Halil Shaber, 32 years old.
“Even if you use a car, the road feels endless – the car line is endless when you look at it.”
Additional reporting by Muat Al-Khatib