By Quds News Network
Gaza (QNN)- After months of forced displacement under Israeli threats, thousands of Palestinians are returning to their neighborhoods in northern Gaza, Gaza City and Khan Younis following the withdrawal of Israeli forces as part of the first phase of the ceasefire deal under Trump’s plan. But for many, the first question they ask friends and neighbors is not about safety, food, or water, it is a simple, painful question:
“Is your home still standing?”
For displaced families who fled under Israeli bombardment, this question now defines the emotional weight of return.
“I walked for hours to reach my home in the Sheikh Redwan neighborhood,” Amal Haboub, 42, who fled with her children to a UN shelter in central Gaza during the early days of the Israeli assault on Gaza City following an Israeli order, told QNN. “There was no roof. The walls are cracked and blackened. But it is still standing — and that’s more than I hoped for.”
Others weren’t as fortunate.
“My house is gone,” Mahmoud al-Jabari added to QNN while standing in front of a pile of rubble that used to be his family’s home in northern Gaza. “There is nothing to rebuild. I found my mother’s teacups buried in the dust. That’s all I have left.”
Across the strip, returning residents speak of neighborhoods transformed into wastelands. Entire streets are flattened, infrastructure is destroyed, and schools and hospitals bear the scars of war.
Despite the destruction, people are coming back, driven by the need to reclaim their land, their lives, and their dignity.
“I didn’t come to look for walls,” said Huda al-Najjar, a schoolteacher in Khan Younis. “I came to stand on my land, to show my children that we still exist.”
In some areas, families are now pitching tents beside the ruins of their homes, sweeping the rubble away, planting flags, and starting fires for tea, small acts of resistance and routine amid devastation.
“The Israeli genocide may have ended, but the suffering continues,” said Nouran Mohamed, a nurse at Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza. “We are dealing with trauma, injury, and immense psychological damage. And yet, people are showing resilience I cannot describe.”
Entisar Ashour, a resident of Tel Al-Hawa who was forced to flee under heavy Israeli attacks, told QNN that the “destruction is unbelievable. My family home—the place where we were raised and built so many memories, is gone.”
In mosques, markets, and makeshift shelters, the question repeats like a refrain:
“Is your home still standing?”
Sometimes, the answer is yes. More often, it’s silence. Or tears.
Still, life is returning to Gaza, slowly, painfully, as families piece together what remains and look toward rebuilding, not only their homes, but their futures.
11 October 2025
Source: countercurrents.org