Eyes were wet with tears, children cried. The long walk home to northern Gaza

On the morning of Monday, 27 January 2025, I couldn't help but join the hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians returning to their destroyed homes in northern Gaza.

I have no house there. My home, once in the south of the Gaza Strip, was destroyed. But it was the sense of defiance and a desire to be part of the collective spirit that moved me.

Before the war, travelling to Gaza City was a routine, hassle-free trip. 

I commuted there for work almost daily, with the journey taking no more than half an hour. The last time I had gone was on Thursday, 5 October 2023.

But the reopening of the road, which had been closed and blocked for so long, presented new challenges. 

Read more: Eyes were wet with tears, children cried. The long walk home to northern Gaza