Displaced Palestinians ride on a donkey cart as they return to their home, during a temporary truce between Hamas and Israel, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, November 24, 2023. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
With children and pets in their arms and their belongings loaded onto donkey carts or car roofs, thousands of displaced Gazans headed home on Friday as a four-day Israel-Hamas truce began.
The din of fighting between the two was replaced by the horns of traffic jams and sirens of ambulances making their way through crowds emerging from hospitals and schools where they had taken refuge.
In Khan Younis town in southern Gaza, streets filled with people venturing out of homes and shelters into a landscape of buildings flattened into heaps of rubble. Displaced families with small children carried belongings in plastic bags, hoping to return at least temporarily to homes they had abandoned following Israel’s bombardment of the coastal enclave.
Palestinians return to the Khezaa district on the eastern outskirts of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on donkey carts on November 24. — AFP
Palestinian boys carry belongings in plastic bags as people return to the Khezaa district on the eastern outskirts of the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis to inspect their homes following weeks of Israeli bombardment, as a four-day pause took effect on November 24. — AFP
Palestinians walk through debris upon their return to Khan Yunis to inspect their homes following weeks of Israeli bombardment, in the Khezaa district on the eastern outskirts of the southern Gaza Strip city on November 24. — AFP
Displaced Palestinians ride on an animal-drawn cart near houses destroyed in an Israeli strike, as they return to their homes, amid the temporary truce between Hamas and Israel, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on November 24. — Reuters
Displaced Palestinians return to their homes as they walk near houses destroyed in an Israeli strike during the conflict, amid the temporary truce between Hamas and Israel, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on November 24. — Reuters
Israeli military armoured vehicles roll in a convoy near the Salaheddine road on the southern outskirts of Gaza City on November 24. — AFP
A Palestinian woman reacts as she and others flee Gaza City, during a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas, near Gaza City on November 24. — Reuters
Palestinians carry their belongings as they flee Gaza City, during a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas, near Gaza City on November 24. — Reuters
Israeli soldiers arrive in southern Israel after exiting the Gaza Strip through the border fence on November 24. — AFP
Palestinians inspect the damage to their homes in the eastern district of Khezaa in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on November 24. — AFP
A Palestinian man sits on the hood of a car, during a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas, near Gaza City on November 24. — Reuters
Cats rest near houses destroyed in an Israeli strike during the conflict, amid the temporary truce between Hamas and Israel, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on November 24. — Reuters
Palestinian men embrace each other near a house destroyed in an Israeli strike during the conflict, amid the temporary truce between Hamas and Israel, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on November 24. — Reuters
A Palestinian woman carries a child as she walks next to houses destroyed in an Israeli strike during the conflict, amid the temporary truce between Hamas and Israel, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on November 24. — Reuters
Palestinians greet relatives returning to the Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing with Egypt, hours after the start of a four-day truce in battles between Israel and Hamas, on November 24. — AFP
A man driving a damaged car picks up relatives returning to the Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing with Egypt, hours after the start of a four-day truce in battles between Israel and Hamas, on November 24. — AFP
People walk toward the Indonesian Hospital at the edge of the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, after Israeli troops reportedly raided the medical facility, on November 24. — AFP
A displaced Palestinian boy carries a bag, as he returns to his home walking next to houses destroyed in an Israeli strike during the conflict, amid the temporary truce between Hamas and Israel, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on November 24. — Reuters
Header image: Displaced Palestinians ride on a donkey cart as they return to their home, during a temporary truce between Hamas and Israel, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on November 24. — Reuters
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