Amidst the scene of massive destruction that covered most areas of Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip, the smell of gunpowder still filled the air, bearing witness to what had happened to the place.

The faces of the returnees showed signs of pain and astonishment, reflecting deep wounds that are difficult to describe or bear, according to what was reported by a Xinhua News Agency correspondent.

Silence hung over the scene, broken only by the sound of falling rubble as residents tried to remove what remained of their destroyed homes.

Time seemed to have stopped here, as scattered stones silently told stories of pain and ongoing suffering, and the alleys that were once teeming with life became empty, devoid of everything except the memories of people who used to fill the place with laughter and hope.

After an arduous journey on foot that lasted for hours, a number of returning displaced people sat on the ruins of their homes, staring into space, their features telling of a frantic race with memories of the past... memories that seemed scattered between every destroyed corner of their places that were once full of life.

The returnees' steps were heavy, as if the earth itself was suffering under the weight of the grief they carried. Each movement was like a new testimony to the weight of the suffering that had not left them from the moment they left their homes until they returned to their ruins.

When Mariam Abu Shahla arrived in her hometown, in the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood west of Gaza City, she could not recognise the neighbourhood where she had spent 25 years of her life, as the rubble had swallowed everything.

“The houses that were once full of memories have become piles of stones and silence, as if the earth itself has swallowed everything,” Maryam added.

Maryam does not know where to go or where to set up her tent, in the absence of any political solutions to save her from this “hell,” as she puts it.

"Even all the words in the Arabic dictionary cannot describe the horror of what we are seeing," she says in a choked voice.

As for Abdul Rahman Abu Sitta, from the town of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, he returned to his neighborhood after a year of displacement, only to find that his town had completely disappeared.

“I lost everything,” Abu Sitta said. “Not only our homes were destroyed, even our memories.”

"This is not a war against a Palestinian faction, but a war against our existence as Palestinians," the man continued.

Despite the devastation, Abu Sitta insisted on searching for hope among the rubble. He said, “I see in every destroyed corner a part of the past that has evaporated and vanished.”

"Israel has always sought to end our existence, but we are here to stay, and we will persevere no matter the difficulties," he added.

Sajida Ayesh, a Palestinian from the Saftawi neighborhood in northern Gaza, sums up her determination to stay despite the extent of the destruction that has befallen her area, saying, “We are here despite everything... proving our existence and rebuilding what others have destroyed.”

Sajida was forced to flee several times to the southern areas of the Gaza Strip in search of safety for her family of five.

With a voice full of sadness and defiance, Sajida recounts the details of the suffering she experienced, saying, “There, in the south, we experienced the most difficult types of torture. Fear, hunger, and fatigue never left us. There was no safe place, and our displacement was the biggest lie that the Israeli army had marketed.”

Despite all this, Sajida asserts with determination, “I will not repeat this mistake, even if the army kills us here. We will die in our homes and on our land, not somewhere else.”

When Sajida saw the beach in Gaza, she tried to recapture the moments of reassurance that the sea used to give her. But she said with a tone tinged with sorrow, “Even the sea has changed… That sea that always symbolized freedom and unlimited hopes, now groans with us, as if it shares our pain.”

The large number of returnees, who have exceeded half a million people according to initial estimates, face enormous challenges, as many will suffer from shortages of basic materials such as food and water, while others will be forced to live on the streets at the mercy of winter. Hosni Muhanna, an official in the Gaza municipality, described the situation as “catastrophic by all standards” in the city. “The infrastructure has been almost completely destroyed, and we are doing everything we can to provide basic services such as water and electricity,” he added. “We have worked to maintain some water wells and networks in an attempt to provide as much water as possible to the displaced,” he continued. “The difficult reality and the challenges are enormous and exceed our current capacity. There is an urgent need for international support to secure the needs of the returning population, especially in light of the difficult humanitarian conditions we are living in,” he added. Amjad Al-Shawa, director of the NGO Network in the Gaza Strip, said that the return of thousands of displaced people to the northern areas of the Strip represents “a new phase of suffering,” with the enormous humanitarian challenges they face continuing. Al-Shawa explained that “the scenes we are seeing show the scale of the disaster, as many have returned to find their homes transformed into “We are facing a complex humanitarian crisis, as the displaced are facing a severe shortage of shelter, clean water, and food, amid harsh winter weather and shelters,” he added. He pointed out that the situation requires “urgent international intervention” to secure the basic needs of the affected population. “Despite the local efforts made to provide relief to the population, the current situation is beyond the capabilities of any local party,” Al-Shawa continued. “There is a need for a responsible international position to alleviate the suffering of the population and ensure the reconstruction of what was destroyed by the war.”