Gaza: Thousands migrate back to the north

Thousands of Palestinians walked along a coastal road from the south to the north of the Gaza Strip. They did this despite the fact that the Israeli army had warned that the northern areas were still an active combat zone. But the hope of a troop withdrawal in the north and concerns about a military operation in the south drove them to return to their homes, even if they have been destroyed.

Large parts of the Gaza Strip have been completely destroyed by the Israeli military's operation in response to the Hamas terror attack on October 7, 2023. Almost half of the region's population of 2.3 million fled the fighting in south. Many have started returning to Khan Yunis, where many buildings are badly damaged.

The Israeli army has distributed leaflets to warn people in Arabic about the "dangerous combat zone" in northern Gaza. Some families who had returned to Beit Hanoun and Jabalia in recent weeks, after the withdrawal of Israeli forces, have started to leave again for fear of new fighting.

For months, displaced people have been living in tent camps, schools and also relatives' homes in the south of the Gaza Strip. "We want our homes. We want our lives. We want to return, with or without a truce," said one woman called Um Nidhal Khatab as she made her way back to the north.

The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is catastrophic. After six months of war, almost a million people are suffering from hunger. There is some hope that aid supplies from the air will alleviate a bit of the suffering in the north and Israel has opened up new routes for aid deliveries. But according to the UN, much of the aid is failing to reach people.

The journey north is dangerous. Eyewitnesses reported that shots had been fired at an Israeli army checkpoint that controls access to the northern territories. The Awda hospital in the center of the Gaza Strip reported five dead and 54 injured. The Israeli military did not comment.

A boy took great care of his cat on the dangerous journey to the north. The war in the Gaza Strip has already killed over 34,000 Palestinian civilians, at least 13,000 of whom were children. Some 1.8 million people have been displaced. A massive humanitarian crisis looms as at least parts of the enclave face famine. A cease-fire is not in sight.