April 14 (UPI) — Thousands of Palestinians, including men, women, children, and elderly people, reportedly came under fire Sunday while returning to their homes in northern Gaza, many of them displaced since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7th, 2023, prompting the latest chapter of the decades-long war.
“I am going home. I have been displaced for six months. We live in a tent because our house was struck,” a young boy named Omar Al-Dahdouh said, while traversing the coastal road of Al Rasheed, carrying a bag of flour on his shoulder, and holding his younger sibling’s hand, sobbing as he walked.
“I am not afraid. If I must die, I will die, but I don’t want to live this anymore. I want to go home, I’m tired. My siblings need to live,” he continued.
CNN video show families walking with their belongings, some riding bicycles, donkey carts and pick-up trucks, smiling and snapping photographs.
“I’m going to Gaza City. It’s enough. We need to go back to our homes and lands. We are tired of displacement… we heard people saying we can go back, but no one official told us. We’ll leave it to God,” Majd El-Aqqad said.
This is the first time war regfugees have began headingback to Gaza in sich large numbers. Some of the travelers said tney heard the Israeli military was allowing women and children to return, and others said their relatives were allowed to cross over.
The Istaeli Defense Force said the reports were false.
“The northern Gaza Strip continues to be an active war zone and return to the area is not currently permitted,” IDF said.
In the video shot for CNN, an elderly woman named Um Mohammad walks along Al Rasheed carrying a heavy bag on her head and two others in her arms, trying to return home.
She cried and praed for God to protect them.
“I don’t know anything about my house. It’s our home and our land. The Israelis displaced us and humiliated us,” she said.
“We are tired here. We have been displaced for 191 days,” Malak Abu Nada, a woman from Jabalya, told CNN.
Many of the people who attempted to head north had been gone to Rafah, where Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been threatening to launch an offensive that the UN said would lead to a “humanitarian catastrophe.”
The Gaza Ministry of Health reported on Sunday that the toll in the Gaza Strip since October 7 has risen to 33,729 dead and 76,371 people injured.
Ahmad Ramadan told CNN he had tried to travel north on Al Rasheed but was turned back by Israeli soldiers because he is a man.
“We heard the road was open to Gaza City, so we thought we’d go,” Um Awni Al-Jarousha told CNN. “When they saw men with us, they started shooting at us. We are tired and humiliated.”
CNN video shows people turning around, heading south with the sound of drones and planes overhead. Missiles are seen in the distance while people run in panic.
“We reached all the way to the checkpoint until we saw Israeli tanks. We headed back because they fired towards us. We didn’t see anyone make it to the other side. We risked our children’s lives to cross, but apparently it was all a lie,” one woman said.
