Displaced Palestinian families who have returned to northern Gaza since the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas came into effect last month have been “shocked” by the “complete scale of destruction” of their homes and neighbourhoods, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef).
More people are returning to northern Gaza now as the Israeli military has completed its withdrawal from the Netzarim Corridor, that bisects the northern and southern halves of the Gaza Strip.
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And as they come back here and realise that’s not the case the hope that they’ve been holding on to for 15 months crashes into a deep heaviness, and this is particularly traumatic for children, children who have endured so much already and are now coming back to communities without water and without health care, without the basics that they need to survive.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (Unrwa) has said people living in makeshift tents in Gaza have been displaced due to “severe winter storms”.
