Israel is gradually withdrawing from the Gaza Strip, and many Palestinians are returning to their homes. But there they are faced with a terrible reality: facing ruins and an uncertain future.
Nesrin Hamad is anxiously awaiting news from her husband. She and their three children are still in a shelter in the central Gaza Strip, while her husband has left for Gaza City, where their house was. “We knew it was being bombed, but seeing it with your own eyes is even more painful,” she told DW. The house is completely destroyed, much of the neighborhood has been razed to the ground.
Nesrin's husband is among the tens of thousands of Palestinians returning home after Israel announced a ceasefire on Friday. Video footage shows an almost endless line of people, mostly on foot, walking along the coast towards the northern Gaza Strip.
The fragile ceasefire agreement
Last week, after intense indirect negotiations, Hamas and Israel approved a 20-point plan proposed by the United States. The agreement is intended to put a permanent end to the two-year war between Israel and Hamas.
The details of many of the points in the ambitious American plan have yet to be clarified. As part of the first phase, Hamas released the remaining 20 hostages alive, while Israel released almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, many of whom had not been charged. The bodies of the 28 dead hostages are also to be handed over.
The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas - an organization designated as a terrorist organization by the US, the EU and others - attacked numerous Israeli villages, military bases and the "Nova" music festival near the Gaza Strip. According to Israeli authorities, about 1,200 people were killed and 250 were taken hostage.
"We have become psychological ruins"
Hamad says she is relieved that the Israeli bombing has stopped. But the loss of her house is just one of the painful memories of the past two years - during which time she has been evicted 17 times.
"Thank God, the war is over, but only after it has killed everything in us. "It killed friends, relatives and neighbors, it devastated Gaza. It turned us into mental ruins. We got sick because there was no medicine, because we were being chased, and the war also polluted the environment," says Hamad.
According to UN estimates, about two-thirds of the buildings in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed since the war began. The Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry says more than 67,000 people have been killed in the two years of war, mostly civilians. The UN's Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territories has described the war as genocide, a charge that Israel strongly rejects.
"It's all because of Hamas and Israel"
Not everyone, however, has heeded the Israeli military's calls to evacuate. Mahmoud Afif, a father of six, could not afford to transport them and provide them with shelter in the southern Gaza Strip. "We settled permanently in the western part of Gaza City, and thank God, my children and I survived."
His house, however, has been razed to the ground. "I lost my house, which I spent my whole life building with my brothers - all because of Hamas and Israel," he says. "Everything that has happened in Gaza over the past two years has not led to anything. Quite the opposite - Gaza has gone backwards, and Israel has made enemies for years."
The Israeli army has partially withdrawn to the line agreed upon in the first phase of the agreement. However, it still controls at least 53 percent of the area. A military spokesman said Palestinians were still denied access to many areas, mainly in the north, east and south, and that approaching these areas could be life-threatening.
"The hell continues"
Fateen Lubad, a young Palestinian woman, has taken refuge with her family in a cell in a former prison in Khan Younis, in the central Gaza Strip. Despite the dangers, they initially wanted to stay close to their home in the north of the Strip, but the Israeli army offensive in September left them with no choice - so they fled south.
Lubad looks exhausted and devastated. She sees no future for herself in Gaza City. "Returning to the north is pointless, as we have lost our homes. We can live there temporarily until we get new passports to escape the hell in Gaza." The young woman plans to leave for Egypt or another country. “The war in Gaza may be over, but the hell continues."
Facing a bleak future
Many in Gaza are skeptical about the durability of the truce. In mid-March, Israel unilaterally broke the previous ceasefire, and fighting resumed. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened to do so again if Hamas does not lay down its arms.
The devastation has left many people with no future. Parents like Nesrin Hamad are worried about their children's education and health - they have not been to school for two years. Large parts of the Gaza health system are in ruins. And while the agreement provides for aid, it is unclear how much of it will be allowed across the border by Israel.
Meanwhile, the question of who will govern the Gaza Strip in the future is also being raised. The plan calls for a Palestinian-led technocratic administration overseen by an international group led by US President Donald Trump and with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair playing a key role.
The wishes of the local population have been largely ignored. "I don't want Hamas or any other Palestinian group," says Nesrin Hamad. "Any international organization that can govern us and rebuild Gaza is welcome."
Mahmoud Afif echoes this sentiment. "I don't know who will govern Gaza, but I know I don't want anyone from the previous era." He is referring primarily to Hamas, the group that ousted the Palestinian Authority from the Gaza Strip in 2007 and seized power. "I hope for my children. "Whoever leads the people must offer a better future to the people," Afif says.