Mahmoud Ayoub busily packed warm blankets and clothes in the Nusseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. Like so many other displaced Palestinians, the 33-year-old worker and his family had been living in a tent here for the past few months.

“I am overjoyed at the thought of returning to the north of the Gaza Strip after being displaced for 16 months. The news of the [Israel-Hamas ceasefire] has given us hope,” he told DW.

Ayoub, a father of three young children, prepared to return home with his family to Sheikh Radwan, a neighborhood in Gaza City, on Monday morning. People from neighboring tents, all displaced Palestinians from northern Gaza, helped to take down the tent and fold it neatly. Some wanted to wait a few days and see how the situation developed. There was relief but also concern about what awaits them in northern Gaza.

“We contacted several friends in the north to ask about the condition of our house,” Ayoub said. “They told us it was almost destroyed, and we’re unsure if we can still live in it. We’ve decided to return regardless. If we can’t live in the house, we’ll pitch our tent next to it and live there, my wife, children and I.”

The family had to plan the journey on foot like hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were forcibly displaced from northern Gaza during the war.

“We don’t know what the journey will be like, whether it will be easy or difficult. The road is long, about 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) along the coast,” he said, worrying most about how his children would cope.

Palestinian returns to northern Gaza delayed

On Sunday, thousands of Palestinians were waiting on Rashid Street, a road that runs from south to north along the Gaza coast.

The passage on foot should be allowed under the ceasefire and hostage release agreement between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist militant group behind the October 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza. But Israel blocked the passage after accusing Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, of breaking the terms of the deal by failing to release Arbel Yehoud, an Israeli civilian, in Saturday’s hostage swap.

Yehoud, who was abducted along with her boyfriend from Kibbutz Nir Oz during the October 7 attacks, is being held by Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian militant group. Her brother was killed in the attacks.

Late on Sunday, Qatar, which helped broker the ceasefire, announced that an agreement had been reached between the militant groups and Israel. Yehoud would be released on Thursday, along with two other Israeli hostages.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed this and said the release would include female soldier Agam Berger. Another three hostages are expected to be released on Saturday, as previously planned, in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

In return, Israel would allow the movement of displaced people from southern to northern Gaza across the Netzarim corridor, a road the Israeli military controls. The large street, which runs from east to west, was built during the war and cut off the south of Gaza from the north. Some families were split up, with many Palestinians having to leave relatives behind as they headed south to areas that were supposed to be safer than the territory’s north.

On Monday morning, a first wave of thousands crossed the corridor on foot. Hours later, vehicles were also allowed to cross but had to undergo security checks.

Some Palestinians had camped out since Saturday night to be among the first to cross.

“For the past two days, we’ve been sleeping in the open, waiting for the Israeli army to open the Netzarim checkpoint so we can return to the northern Gaza Strip and see what remains of our demolished homes — if there’s anything left at all,” said Rizek Ayoub, a passer-by who was on his way to Gaza City with 57 of his relatives.

Return north joyful for some, painful for others

Still, the mood was somewhat joyful, said Amani Zahd, who was on her way to her old neighborhood in Gaza City’s al-Nasr district.

“The scene is terrible and strange. There are so many people, but they are happy. Despite all their suffering, there is happiness within, and I feel it, too,” she told DW. “I am confident that the future will be better.”

Others expected a painful return, and not just because they had lost their homes. Tamer al-Farani, an employee of a local NGO, said they hoped to finally bury their loved ones who remained under the rubble of the bombed-out house where they had taken shelter in northern Gaza.

“I lost contact with my sister, her husband, and their four children on December 1, 2024. At that time, they were staying in a house in the Tal al-Zaatar area in Jabaliya Camp with another family,” al-Farani said by phone from Deir al-Balah in central Gaza as he prepared to leave.

His sister and her family had been displaced several times from their home in northern Gaza City before taking shelter in the refugee camp nearby. A final text message came shortly afterward, then nothing.

“Two weeks later, we heard from others that the building they were staying in was completely bombed, and everyone inside had died. It was a four-story building, and many of those inside remain buried under the rubble,” al-Farani said.

Now that they are returning to the north, he hopes to get some clarity about what happened and to search through the rubble to find them.

“We have been told that the Civil Defence has no equipment, but we will use our hands and whatever we have to find their bodies,” said the 27-year-old. He hopes to bury his family members with dignity.

The Civil Defence, an emergency and rescue service in Gaza, said in a statement that “based on information provided by citizens, we have recorded the names and locations of hundreds of martyrs who are still missing.”

It added that body recovery was difficult, and progress was slow due to a lack of equipment.

6,800 missing person cases in Gaza still open

The International Red Cross, which has set up a hotline for missing persons, said 9,200 people were reported missing in Gaza from the start of the conflict in October 2023 to December 2024. Of these, 6,800 cases are still under investigation.

Israel may have detained some of the missing, and others may have been killed during the war. Some children separated from their families during the war have been reunited with their relatives.

“We want to heal our wounds and rebuild our lives, even if just a little bit,” said al-Farani. “The loss is overwhelming, and there are so many missing people. Still, we must find a way to start anew.”

Photos by Mohammed al Madhoun, Gaza

Edited by: Carla Bleiker