Following the declaration of a ceasefire, life in Gaza has cautiously resumed, even as the enclave remains scarred by more than two years of relentless genocidal war. Streets, homes, and markets bear the marks of destruction, while minarets call out not only for prayer but for funerals and the search for the missing. Families return to neighborhoods reduced to rubble, clinging to memories of what was lost as they navigate the remnants of their former lives.

For many, returning home is a bitter act. Residents such as Rashad Abu Al-Abed and Imad Bakr describe a journey filled with grief, walking through sites where entire communities once stood. Homes have been bulldozed, neighborhoods razed, and the echo of massacres lingers even as the sound of bombs fades. The ceasefire has brought only a pause in violence, not an end to the trauma endured by the population.

Civil Defence teams and local authorities are working to restore order, recover bodies, and support displaced families, but the challenge is immense. Amid the ruins, hope persists as Gaza’s people strive to rebuild their homes and lives, bearing the weight of grief while clinging to the possibility of renewal. The fragile calm may allow life to resume, yet the wounds, visible and invisible, remain deeply etched into the city and its inhabitants.