Return to Gaza: Palestinians find dead and destruction

Return to Gaza: Palestinians find dead and destruction

khamis and ahmad imarah were aware that when they return to their home in northern Gaza would hardly find more than rubble and ash. But they had to go. Her father and brother are still below the ruins, more than a year after her house has been hit by Israeli armed forces.

The return to Al-Shujaiya

When Khamis Imarah was in the Al-Shujaiya district in Gaza City on Tuesday, he only saw Complete devastation . "When I came back here, my heart was torn. The only reason why I returned are my father and my brother," he said in an interview with CNN.

a shattering discovery

"I don't want anything else. What I ask is to find my father and brother, that's all." On Wednesday, the Gaza government office announced that around 500,000 displaced Palestinians-almost a quarter of the area of the area-in the first 72 hours after Israeli armed forces the Netzarim-Korridor have opened in the completely devastated Nord-Gaza.

exhaustive return trip

The two brothers Imarah went 11 kilometers to reach Al-Shujaiya, an arduous journey that they did with several small children. They found their home almost completely destroyed, with just one room that was still partially. While they rummaged through the debris, Khamis pushed onto his mother's green knitting bag, in which there were still a few balls of wool and two crochet needles as if they had just put them down.

The terrible reality

"She liked to knit, she liked wool and things like that," recalls Khamis and goes through things. "Oh god, my mother had so many stories. She was a storyteller and loved old stories. She was an entertainer. Being God with you, mother," he said to Cnn.

The brothers' mother was injured in an Israeli attack and later evacuated to Egypt, as one of the few Palestinians who were allowed to leave the strip for medical treatment before the Rafah transition was closed in May 2024. The United Nations office for the coordination of humanitarian matters (OCHA) reported that only 436 patients, including many children, have been evacuated since May, although around 12,000 people urgently need medical evacuation.

devastating damage in Gaza

The Israeli military attacks have put most Gazas in rubble. According to the United Nations, around 69 % of all buildings have been destroyed or damaged in the past 15 months, with the worst affected by Gaza City.

The challenge of return

Israel forced most residents of the northern Gaza to leave the region early in conflict by giving evacuation orders and asking people to move south. For most of those who return this week, it is the first return after over a year. Although nine out of ten inhabitants were driven out during the war, those who had to flee from the north were the longest homeless.

The way back to the north is long and arduous, says Khamis. The streets are destroyed and mud and rubble block the way. The transport is not widespread, so that about a third of the people return on foot, according to the Ocha. "You step from one quarter to the other and everything is only piles of rubble that have not yet been cleared ... and there were martyrs on the way, on the street where no one has lifted them to this day. There are fresh bodies and body that are already decayed," reports Khamis.

appeal to the returning

He urges others who want to take the way back to the north. "Because there is no water, no electricity or even food, no tents, you sleep in the rubble," he says. Mohammad Salha, director of the Al-Awda Hospital in Tal Al-Zaatar, explained that there is currently no place in northern Gaza to set up warehouses for returning. The region was heavily built on before the war and the enormous destruction led to the fact that huge piles of rubble lie everywhere.

The options are less

"There are no camps for the displaced residents. Some people try to repair their damaged houses, but northern Gaza urgently needs help - humanitarian organizations have to provide accommodation, water and storage facilities," he says. The Situation in the north is so miserable that some of the returnees had no choice but to reverse and stay in the refugee camps in the south.

Arwa al-Masri, which was driven out of Beit Hanoun in the northeastern part of the strip, report on the shocking destruction that their relatives experienced when they recently returned home. "They were shocked about the destruction and the privation. There is nothing. No water - my brother had to go from Beit Hanoun to Jabalya to bring water, and then he had to go to Gaza (city) to say that we should not come back yet. Most people who have returned north said that there is no life and only massive destruction," Unrwa-Schulshelter south of the Netzarim corridor.

uncertain future

While you and your children cannot yet return to your home in the north-or what is left of it-your stay in the shelter is uncertain, due to impending bans for unnecessary operations within Israel and the ban of the Israeli authorities, to work together with UNRWA.

"If Unrwa stops operating, people will not be able to find food, and many of the people who are in the Unrwa school shelves will not be able to stay. There will be no tents and no accommodations," she says. The realization that the place that she once called her home is almost completely lost was only the latest in a series of tragedies that Khamis and Ahmad Imarah suffered in the past 15 months.

family loss and the urge to stay

The two brothers said that only 11 of 60 members of their extended family survived the war. "My daughter spent 45 days in the intensive care unit, my younger son is still traumatized today because he saw how his mother was killed," said Ahmad. The family fled from Al-Shujaiya after receiving SMS messages from the Israeli military in which they were asked to leave the area. Khamis reported that the whole family-his brother, his sessday and her in-laws-went to the house of his brother in al-Mughraqa, south of the Netzarim corridor.

"It was time for the afternoon prayer when our house in al-Mughraqa was hit. I still don't know how I got out of the house," he said. Ahmad continued about his son Walid, who asked where his mother was and showed his finger to the sky.

The incessant pain

"Why did you tell us that we should go south? Imagine a four -year -old boy who tells you my mother and here is my aunt, (her body) all torn in front of him. I covered his face and he shouted at him. His aunts, uncle, his grandfather and an uncle, nobody is there," he reports. Khamis said CNN that his wife died in the Israeli attack, just a week after the birth of her daughter, who was also killed.

"We were very happy. I wish I had a photo of my newborn, but I have none. I waited a long time to have my daughter, and then they both disappeared," he says, adding that their graves were destroyed only a few days after the funeral by the Israeli military.

"You bring them to the grave and if you return to the cemetery a few days later, you will no longer find them because they were cleared away by the Bulldozers. The (Israeli forces) have not left anything back. Even the martyrs and the bodies they have excavated.

determination not to give up

"We returned to the north for nothing," he says. But he quickly adds that he was determined to stay and rebuild. "I come from Gaza and I will not go. Even if it were tougher and more difficult than that, I want to live in Gaza and will not go. I will only leave Gaza to get to heaven," he swears.

President Donald Trump suggested last week that gaza should be" cleaned " Live there, be brought to Jordan and Egypt - either temporarily or permanently. This comment triggered outrage and resistance throughout the Middle East, with both Egypt and Jordan rejected the idea.

khamis emphasizes to CNN that the decision to stay far beyond his personal wishes. "This is anchored in our heads, we will stay. We will not leave this place, because this country does not belong to us, but our grandparents and our ancestors. How should I leave it? My father's house, my grandfather and my brothers?" he asks.