Thousands of Gazans are going home after two years of war. This is what they’re returning to

Hell on earth is what faces them – Peter

Thousands of Palestinians have returned to Gaza City in a procession of trucks, donkeys, carts and families on foot who travelled north, with the Mediterranean Sea on one side and, on the other, a wasteland of rubble and twisted metal.

Many are returning to suburbs razed by Israel over the past two years of war, which includes an intensified bombardment of the city in the final months of the war that forced about 700,000 people to flee in September, according to the Israeli military.

“There is no feeling more beautiful than this – the feeling of people returning from the south to the north,” Gaza City resident Ahmad Abu Watfa told CNN.

“I pray that God relieves our sorrow and distress and that people return to their homes. Even if the houses are destroyed, we will return, God willing.”