After a recent cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, Sabah Abu Ghanem and her family embarked on the arduous journey back to Gaza City. They left behind a cramped tent encampment in the southern region, their hearts set on finally returning to the comfort of their own home.
Upon arrival, a scene of utter devastation greeted them. Their neighborhood, much like the rest of Gaza City, lay in ruins. Yet, amidst the destruction, the skeletal remains of their house offered a glimmer of hope. They resolved to make a life in one of its damaged rooms, a testament to their resilience.
“At least this piece of land belongs to us,” remarked 26-year-old Ms. Abu Ghanem, her voice tinged with a mix of despair and determination. “This rubble, I can still call mine.”
Since the cease-fire, thousands of Palestinians have streamed back to Gaza City and other northern areas, only to confront unimaginable destruction. Many returned to find their homes and entire neighborhoods utterly obliterated, making the prospect of rebuilding their lives seem like a distant dream, if not an outright impossibility.
The sheer scale of destruction proved too overwhelming for some. Majdi Nassar, 32, briefly returned to search for his home in Jabaliya, a town near Gaza City, but quickly retreated to Deir al-Balah in the south within 24 hours. He vows to remain there until clean drinking water is reliably available, a benchmark that could be years away.
“I couldn’t even find a trace of the building where my apartment used to be; not even the rubble remained,” he lamented. “Absolutely everything is gone.”
Before the two-year conflict, sparked by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Gaza was a densely populated region. Gaza City, its vibrant political, economic, and cultural center, now lies largely in ruins, with vast sections reduced to rubble.
The city’s population has significantly diminished, as many residents fled to southern Gaza following the Israeli military’s ground offensive last month. The destruction is widespread, encompassing government buildings, universities, and numerous hospitals.
Food supplies remain scarce. The electrical grid has been non-operational for two years, ever since Israel halted supplies in the initial days of the war. Access to clean water is a constant struggle.
Although the United Nations reported “real progress” this past week in increasing aid deliveries, the World Food Program cautioned that it would take considerable time to alleviate the dire conditions. These conditions previously led a U.N.-backed panel of food experts to declare that areas within and around Gaza City were experiencing famine as early as August.
Israel, however, disputes the claims of famine, attributing food shortages to Hamas, looters, or what it describes as inefficient aid organizations.
The path forward remains profoundly uncertain. While the current cease-fire has halted active combat, it’s unclear if it marks an end to the wider conflict. Future peace negotiations lack a schedule, and a concrete timeline for reconstruction efforts has yet to be established.
Despite withdrawing to a new deployment line, the Israeli military retains control over half of Gaza’s territory. Reports emerged Friday of Israeli forces opening fire on a vehicle that allegedly breached this new boundary, an incident that the Gaza Civil Defense emergency service stated resulted in at least nine deaths, including children.
For residents like Ms. Abu Ghanem, the dire conditions have become unbearable, prompting many to express a desire to leave Gaza permanently.
Upon returning, one of Ms. Abu Ghanem’s first acts was to traverse the shattered remains of her neighborhood, desperately searching for any familiar faces or landmarks.
“There was absolutely no one around,” she recounted. “No basic services, no water or electricity, and certainly no markets open to buy food.”
Ms. Abu Ghanem once held a unique celebrity status in Gaza, known for being a surfer in a region where the sport is rarely practiced, especially by women. Her story graced foreign newspapers and documentary films, including “Gaza Surf Club.”
However, societal pressures eventually led her to give up surfing. She married and had three children, yet her passion for swimming endured, fueling a dream of one day opening a club to teach girls how to swim and surf.
Today, her sole aspiration is to depart Gaza, seeking a better future for her children.
Before the war, her children’s conversations revolved around school and their future ambitions. Now, their daily lives consist of exchanging tips on how to ignite fires for cooking and where to find water from the limited number of trucks operating in the area.
“I want them to experience a life far better than mine,” she stated. “Gaza is no longer a place for life or dreams.”
Despite the overwhelming challenges, other returnees to Gaza City expressed a steadfast commitment to remain.
Fatima Abu Steita, 27, and her husband, Abdallah Abu Nada, 47, returned to the Zeitoun neighborhood, hoping to find their home. However, they discovered it had been “completely erased” from existence.
“Everything around that neighborhood is now flat ground,” she added somberly. “Trying to rebuild life here feels like attempting to plant a tree in solid rock.”
She currently resides with relatives in the Shati neighborhood, sharing a cramped space where “10 souls live under one cracked roof.”
Ms. Abu Steita noted that she knows families who returned, glimpsed their street, and immediately departed. Yet, for her, coming back to Gaza City, regardless of its condition, was an act of empowerment.
“It’s a return to nothing, yes,” she conceded. “But it’s also a powerful declaration: ‘We are still here.’”
However, for those who have chosen to remain despite the extensive destruction, Gaza City now carries an escalating sense of danger.
For two years, the territory has largely existed in a state of lawlessness and without effective governance.
Following the cease-fire, Hamas has actively reasserted its authority. This has manifested in masked fighters controlling traffic in some areas, while in others, Hamas gunmen have been involved in street battles and summary executions, targeting rivals.
Even before their return to Gaza City, Ms. Abu Ghanem kept her children indoors after dark, explaining that “everyone outside carries a gun, a knife, or even a screwdriver.”
Now, some of those who have returned fear being caught in the escalating internal violence.
“There is no law or police; people are taking justice into their own hands,” she observed. “An eye for an eye has become the prevailing rule.”
