Wearing sandals and flip-flops, they marched for hours while carrying sacks of clothing hanging from their elbows. With mattresses thrown over their shoulders and toddlers in their arms, they traveled for miles. Children pushed wheelchairs, elderly men limped on crutches, and a small boy pulled his worldly belongings on a sled.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from northern Gaza have been living in tents for almost 16 months since Israel has prohibited them from going back to their homes after forcing them to evacuate south when its military campaign against Hamas began.
Many thousands of them started the grueling journey back on Monday, just after daylight. The Israeli military eventually pulled out of Gaza’s beachfront road around 7 a.m., allowing the displaced residents to head north on foot after disputes between Israel and Hamas postponed their return over the weekend. Later, after inspection, drivers were permitted to travel north on an inland road.
Soon, the pedestrians formed a human column that extended for kilometers in all directions, with about twenty individuals at each end. Seldom has a journey this difficult been so relieving.
Malak al-Haj Ahmed, 17, a high school student, said, “We’re so overjoyed,” as she and her family took photographs by the seaside. “Going home is the happiest moment of all.”
Some gave out candy to commemorate the occasion. Some gave photographers who were passing by victory signs. A chant of celebration was lead by a group of young boys. They sung, “North is best, right or left.” “We’re going north!”
It was a time rich with symbolism for Palestinians. Palestinians have been characterized by frequent displacement and exile since the establishment of Israel in 1948, when hundreds of thousands of them were forced to leave their homes in what is known in Arabic as the Nakba.
Most Gazans are the descendants of refugees forced to flee in 1948 and many had regarded their displacement from northern Gaza in 2023 as a second Nakba. That fear has been reinforced by repeated Israeli calls to settle northern Gaza with Israeli civilians, as well as President Trump’s suggestion over the weekend that Gazans should move to other parts of the Arab world.
To walk back home against that backdrop, through land from which Israeli soldiers had just retreated, felt to some Palestinians like a dare against their own history.
Ahmed Shehada, 34, a textile manufacturer who walked almost 15 miles in six hours to get to Gaza City, stated, “We turned the world upside down.” His house was still standing when he arrived on Monday, unlike many others.
Mr. Shehada stated over the phone, “They wanted to expel us from Gaza.” Rather, “I’m sitting on the couch in my home, and I can’t believe it,” he continued.
It became difficult to move throughout the central city of Deir al Balah, a gathering spot for evacuated Gazans, due to the large number of individuals attempting to travel north. Tents were being taken down and possessions were being packed into plastic bags by family after family. Gas tanks were heaved onto the backs of some victims.
While strolling, they pictured the joy of seeing family members who had defied Israeli evacuation orders and remained in the north at the beginning of the conflict.
Anwar Abu Hindi, 41, a housewife traveling north with multiple children, said, “I’ll hug my mother at her shelter first.” “Our feelings are scattered everywhere.”
There were tearful reunions between those hiking north and relatives who had traveled south to meet them as they arrived to the Netzarim corridor, a section of land that Israeli military had controlled until only hours prior, firing on Palestinians who attempted to cross it.
However, there were often hints of caution, annoyance, and occasionally dread mixed in with the happiness. There were ruins all along the routes. For a large portion of the day, Israeli drones continued to buzz overhead. The fact that Hamas officers were still monitoring the pedestrian route demoralized Gazan critics of the organization.
Drivers faced lengthy traffic bottlenecks along the inland route; Israel had authorized foreign security contractors to check northbound vehicles for weapons, which caused the automobiles to slow to a crawl.
Among the contractors were Egyptians who, according to officials, work for private businesses. Their presence presented a picture of Gaza’s future in which the destiny of its citizens is still determined by outside forces; Israeli leaders view the contractors as a test run for a more extensive international force that would rule the territory rather than Palestinian authority.
Palestinians now saw firsthand the destruction they had only seen in social media footage after passing the checkpoint.
“The destruction that we walked through was worse than the apocalypse,” said Mr. Shehada, the textile manufacturer. “I was afraid I was walking over corpses buried beneath the rubble.”
After reaching his house in Gaza City, Mr. Shehada was amazed to find that it had suffered only minor damage.
But others returned to ruins, and to neighborhoods that they no longer recognized.
