Palestinians returning to northern Gaza hope to reunite with relatives, whether dead or alive

Middle East Eye

27-01-2025

As Palestinians make their way back to northern Gaza following Israel's withdrawal from the Netzarim corridor, thousands of people are intent on being reunited with their loved ones, even if it's just to find their remains for burial.
More than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza over the past year, with the majority being women and children.
Thousands more are believed to be buried under the ruins of buildings destroyed by Israel.
Now after a ceasefire brought a halt to fighting and forced an Israeli withdrawal from northern Gaza, many Palestinians are going back to their homes there.
Kabir Rusoomi, who hails from Beit Lahia, told Middle East Eye that she was making her way north to find her loved ones - those who are alive and those who are dead.
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"The north is the heart and soul, the north is the land we lost. We hope to envelope ourselves in this land, the land of our homes, and the land of our people who are lost," she said.
"I'm going home to meet everyone," Rusoomi added, as she listed the family members she knows have been killed in the war.
"Even if they [Israel] destroyed it, we want to rebuild, even if they levelled it, we want to bring it up once more, and if our people are gone, we want to compensate them," Rusoomi continued.
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In northern Gaza, at least 5,000 people have been killed or are missing, with another 9,500 wounded as a result of an ethnic cleansing campaign dubbed the "Generals' Plan", which began in early October last year, a medical source told Al Jazeera.
Proposed and promoted by a group of senior Israeli army reservists, the plan involves forcibly displacing the entire population of northern Gaza, and then besieging the area, in order to starve out anyone left.
The failure of the plan has - temporarily at least - given hope to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza that they will be able to rebuild their old lives.
On the Mediterranean shores of northern Gaza, MEE encountered one young man and his uncle as they met one another.
The young man was holding a drum in his hand, as his uncle exclaimed: "There's nothing more beautiful than this."
'Another type of suffering'
Like many people in Gaza, Rusoomi lamented the loss she has suffered, adding that she is "heart broken" that her loved ones will not be there to welcome her return.
She consoled herself, saying: "The things we lost in this world, we will find with God... God is with us."
Hannan Thabet, who is making her way north to see her 75-year-old mother, said: "We have suffered for a year and four months, but today we will experience another type of suffering... the suffering of returning home only to find complete destruction of our homes.
"You see our people, today they are both joyful and saddened, God make it easy on... (Palestinians are) a resilient nation."
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Soad Bakr, a superviser at the Al Awda Health and Community Association, told MEE that her organisation was one of the first to respond to the announcement that the displaced could return to north Gaza on Monday and has been providing medical assistance since.
"We know how many obstacles stand in the way of displaced people making their return," Bakr said.
As well as providing direct medical help, the organisation has also been helping emotionally support those making the arduous walk back to the north.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there are more than 485,000 people with "severe or moderate mental health disorders" in Gaza.
The likelihood of inadequate shelter is likely to add further emotional strain on those who have survived the war so far.
Satellite imagery included in a Human Rights Watch report from mid-November shows the systematic destruction of buildings and areas Israel has dubbed "security corridors", including agricultural land, whose destruction is exacerbating an already dire food shortage.
Statements from senior officials indicated that forced displacement was a deliberate aspect of Israeli state policy.