Khan Younis, Gaza Strip - Even before a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas fully took effect on Sunday, Palestinians in the war-torn Gaza Strip began returning to the ruins of homes they evacuated during the 15-month war.

Majida Abu Jarad quickly packed her belongings in the tent at home in the sprawling tent city of Muwasi, just north of the border with Egypt in the southern part of the strip. north.

Forced to flee their house in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun when the war began, they often gathered around the kitchen table or on the rooftop on summer evenings, surrounded by the scent of roses and jasmine.

The house of those fond memories is gone, and Abu Jarad, her husband and their six daughters have spent the past year walking across Gaza, following one evacuation order after another from the Israeli military. zone.

She said they fled seven times, and each time, their lives became more unrecognizable as they were crowded with strangers, sleeping in school classrooms, searching for water in huge tent camps or sleeping on the streets.

Now the family is preparing to begin the long journey home — or wherever it may be — and reunite with relatives who stayed in the north.

"As soon as they said the truce would start on Sunday, we started packing our bags and deciding what to bring, not caring that we were still living in tents," Abu Jarad said.

The Gaza war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping about 250 people. About 100 hostages remain in Gaza, and at least a third of them are believed to be dead.

The Israeli offensive has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians in Gaza, more than half of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which did not disclose how many were combatants. Reports said more than 110,000 Palestinians were injured. The Israeli military said it had killed more than 17,000 militants but provided no evidence.

The Israeli army's bombardment has leveled large areas of Gaza and displaced 1.9 million of its 2.3 million residents.

Even before the ceasefire officially came into effect - with tank shelling continuing overnight and into the next morning - many Palestinians began walking home through the rubble, some on foot, others hauling belongings in donkey carts.

“They are returning to look for their relatives under the rubble,” said Mohammed al-Mahdi, a displaced Palestinian father of two. A few months ago, he was forced to leave his three-story home in the Zayton neighborhood of southeast Gaza City.

Mahdi managed to return home Sunday morning after walking through the rubble in western Gaza. On the way, he said, he saw Hamas-controlled police forces deployed to the streets of Gaza City to help people return to their homes.

Despite the scale of the damage and the uncertainty about reconstruction prospects, "people are still celebrating. They are happy," he said. They have begun clearing streets and clearing rubble from homes. They've been waiting 15 months. "

Um Saber, a 48-year-old widow and mother of six, returned to her hometown of Beit Lahiya. For security reasons, she asked to be identified only by her honorific title, which means "Saber's mother."

She said by phone that her family had discovered bodies in the street as they trekked home, some of which appeared to have been lying out in the open for weeks.

When they arrived in Beit Lahiya, they found their home and much of the surrounding area in ruins, she said. Some families immediately began digging through the rubble, searching for missing relatives. Others began trying to clear areas where tents could be set up.

Umm Sabel said she also found the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the area "totally destroyed".

"It's not a hospital at all anymore," she said. "They destroyed everything."

The hospital has been attacked several times over the past three months as Israeli forces launch an offensive in largely isolated northern Gaza targeting Hamas militants they say have regrouped.

The military claimed that Hamas militants were operating inside Kamal Adwan, but hospital officials denied this.

The families' return comes amid looming uncertainty over whether the truce will bring a temporary ceasefire, who will run the enclave and how it will be rebuilt.

The United Nations says if Gaza remains under an Israeli blockade, reconstruction could take more than 350 years. The United Nations last month used satellite data to estimate that 69% of buildings in Gaza had been damaged or destroyed, including more than 245,000 homes. With more than 100 trucks working full-time, it would take more than 15 years just to clear the rubble.

But for many families, immediate relief outweighs worries about the future.

"We will stay in the tent, but the difference is that the bleeding will stop, the fear will stop and we will sleep with peace of mind," Abu Jarad said.

——

Magdi reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.