Palestinians begin search for Gaza’s missing as they return to ruined homes
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Ceasefire celebrations replaced by shock and sorrow as people begin to assess the scale of devastation. After the first night in Gaza for more than a year without the sound of drones or bombing overhead following the successful implementation of a ceasefire, people in the besieged Palestinian territory have begun returning to destroyed homes and searching for missing loved ones.
![[People walk down a wide dusty track between the destruction ]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0ef62e0d0b822c80feb0dcbb22520007b5d2c1ab/0_149_4160_2496/master/4160.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The truce that took effect on Sunday with the release of the first three hostages held by Hamas in exchange for 90 Palestinians from Israeli jails was greeted with euphoria as a large influx of desperately needed aid supplies entered the strip. By Monday, however, the celebrations largely gave way to shock and sorrow, as the strip’s 2.3 million population began to assess the scale of the devastation wreaked by Israel in retaliation for the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack.
In Israel, joy at the three hostages’ safe return was tempered by anger and surprise at Hamas’s show of force at the hostage handover after 15 months of gruelling combat. “The nation watched with no little dread when dozens of Hamas gunmen, hailed by a large cheering crowd, commandeered Gaza City’s Saraya Square for a wild, self-aggrandising daylight ceremony before a vast global audience,” a Times of Israel op-ed said.
Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank opposed to the deal tried to block entrances to the Palestinian city of Ramallah on Sunday evening before the return of 90 women and children held in Israeli prisons. Overnight, Israeli extremists set homes and cars on fire in three West Bank villages. In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces said it acted “swiftly” to disperse rioters, arresting two people, a claim disputed by the human rights organisation Yesh Din.
