DISPATCH FROM GAZA
‘I went back to find my house — but there was no house there’
The pause in Israel’s war with Hamas is the first chance many Gazans have had to discover what they lost
Displaced Palestinians search for their homes in Khan Yunis amid the temporary truce
MOHAMMED SALEM/REUTERS
The Times
When the guns fell silent over Gaza, shortly after dawn, Anwar Abu Salah left the school where he had been sheltering to return to the home his family had fled under bombardment on the second day of the war.
“I went to my house to inspect it, but I did not find a house there,” he said. “I found it bombed. We are trying to find anything from the house or our belongings, but everything here is destroyed.”
As the first fragile ceasefire of the conflict started, thousands of displaced people set off to their homes, their belongings loaded on to donkey carts and their pets and children in their arms.
Some Palestinians return to their homes as a four-day truce began
Though able to move freely without the threat of bombardment, many of those returning
