Feature: Shattered homes, unbroken spirits: return of displaced Gazans

Gaza   January 30
The landscape of Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip lies in ruins, a stark reminder of the violence that has engulfed the region. For displaced Palestinians recently allowed to return, the remnants of their homes have shattered fragile hopes for a life reclaimed.
After years spent in southern Gaza, where they endured relentless Israeli bombardments even in areas designated as "safe," these returnees now sought solace in the familiar. Instead, they encountered a harsh reality that rendered their home unrecognizable.
"Even all the words in the Arabic dictionary cannot describe the horror of what we see," Mariam Abu Shahla, a resident of Tal al-Hawa in Gaza City, told Xinhua.
Upon returning, she found her neighborhood, once alive with memories after 25 years, reduced to rubble. "The rubble swallowed everything. The homes once filled with memories are now piles of stones and silence as if the earth itself had consumed them," she said, her voice cracking with grief.
Uncertain of where to find shelter, Abu Shahla described her return as "hell." The smell of gunpowder still hung in the air, a testament to the violence that had ravaged the area. Returnees walked through the debris, their faces etched with disbelief and pain, each step heavy with the weight of grief. The silence was punctuated only by crumbling concrete, echoing the stillness of a place that had once thrived. Xinhua

Source: Yadanarbon Newspaper