Displaced families in Gaza struggle to return home amidst rubble, destruction

Palestinians face challenges of rebuilding lives torn apart by Gaza war.

January 24, 2025, 2:22 PM

Gaza has become a wasteland of ruins and rubble due to Israel's conflict with Hamas following the terror organization's surprise attack on Oct. 7, 2023. However, now that a ceasefire is in place, families are returning to their neighborhoods, hoping to rebuild the places they once called home.

One of the families excited to be back is the Ghaly family. After leaving the tents they had lived in for months, they are taking the few possessions they still have.

As they returned to see the rubble, evidence of the destructive force where no building was left untouched, they also saw their family home.

Manual Aslim walks through the rubble of her destroyed home, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Jan. 21, 2025, days after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas came into effect.
Abdel Kareem Hana/AP

"This is our four-story home," Eyad Abu Ghaly said. "It has been completely flattened, and there was no reason for that. We don’t understand why the house was bombed." Eyad further explains, “The resistance does not exist here — just civilians.”

Many homes that are still standing are wrecked inside, and as people wonder how they will ever rebuild, there’s also fear that war will soon return.

"I look at young people and wonder, 'Where will they go?'" Ghaly said. "There’s no future for them — no education, no health care. There is no life, no life at all."

The agreement between Hamas and Israel, which ended the fighting and resulted in three Israeli hostages being freed on Sunday and reuniting with their families, was initially based on a six-week ceasefire.

On Inauguration Day, President Donald Trump stated he was not confident that a second phase of the deal could be reached to prolong the truce and free all remaining hostages, both living and deceased.

Tal Haimi was killed in the Oct. 7 massacre, but his body was taken into Gaza by Hamas. His cousin, Udi Goren, said that if Israel prioritizes the release of all hostages, it will further weaken Hamas.

"It is in our interest," Goren said. "Bring back the hostages because that's more valuable to Hamas than anything else. And once we have the hostages back home, then we need to keep doing what we're actually doing right now, collaborating with the mediators in creating a different future for Gaza, where Hamas is not a part of it."

But as soon as the ceasefire kicked in in Gaza, Hamas gunmen were parading through the streets. Then, the hostage handover was used to show they were back in charge.

With no sign that Hamas is willing to capitulate, a former Israeli general close to the Israeli government states that it is unlikely the six-week ceasefire will be prolonged.

People camp in a heavily damaged UN school surrounded by destruction, as displaced Palestinians return to the northern areas of the Gaza Strip, in Jabalia, Jan. 23, 2025.
Omar Al-qattaa/AFP via Getty Images

Retired Israel Defense Forces Brigadier General Amir Avivi told ABC News that Israel is discussing a second deal. Yet this deal involves not just the release of hostages, but also requires Hamas to surrender, relinquish its control over Gaza, and vacate the area.

"And we will have to pressure and continue degrading Hamas capabilities to an extent where they will understand that it's game over," Avivi said.

While teams in Gaza search the rubble for more bodies, there is no clear sense of who or what could govern Gaza if Hamas were to be removed. According to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health, the war has already claimed 47,000 lives. Some 1,200 were killed in southern Israel during Hamas' Oct. 7 attack, according to Israeli officials.

In examining Gaza before the war and observing the devastation now, aid agencies warn that thousands more dead have not yet been counted or found.

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