<div dir="ltr">
<h1 class="gmail-single_title">My plan for the first day back to the Gaza Strip, healing wounds and a lot of crying</h1>
<p class="gmail-single_date">Sunday 26-January-2025 -<font size="1"> <a href="https://english.palinfo.com/reports/2025/01/26/332900/">https://english.palinfo.com/reports/2025/01/26/332900/</a></font></p>
<div class="gmail-featured_image"><img width="440" height="294" src="https://english.palinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/return.jpg" class="gmail-attachment-post-thumbnail gmail-size-post-thumbnail gmail-wp-post-image" alt="" style="margin-right: 0px;"> </div>
<div class="gmail-shareArea">
<div class="gmail-picshare">
<div class="et_pb_code_inner">
<div class="gmail-social_home">
<div class="gmail-social_home_inner">
<div class="gmail-social_home_wrapper"><div class="gmail-ETFont gmail-social_home_item gmail-social_home_item1"><a href="https://english.palinfo.com/reports/2025/01/26/332900/#"><span class="gmail-social_home_icon"><i class="gmail-fab gmail-fa-facebook-f"></i></span></a></div><div class="gmail-ETFont gmail-social_home_item gmail-social_home_item2"><a href="https://english.palinfo.com/reports/2025/01/26/332900/#"><span class="gmail-social_home_icon"><i class="gmail-fa-brands gmail-fa-twitter"></i></span></a></div><div class="gmail-FontAw gmail-social_home_item gmail-social_home_item4"><a href="https://english.palinfo.com/reports/2025/01/26/332900/#"><span class="gmail-social_home_icon"><i class="gmail-fa-brands gmail-fa-whatsapp"></i></span></a></div></div><div class="gmail-FontAw gmail-social_home_item gmail-social_home_item5"><a href="https://english.palinfo.com/reports/2025/01/26/332900/#"><span class="gmail-social_home_icon"><i class="gmail-fa-brands gmail-fa-telegram"></i></span></a></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="gmail-changeSize">
<div class="gmail-zoomInOutNtitle"><div class="gmail-SmallZoomR"><a class="gmail-zoomInOut gmail-increaseFont">+<i class="gmail-fa gmail-fa-font"></i></a> <a class="gmail-zoomInOut gmail-decreaseFont">-<i class="gmail-fa gmail-fa-font"></i></a></div></div></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-top:10px">
<center>
</center>
</div>
<div class="gmail-post_content">
<p>GAZA, (PIC)</p>
<p>Hours separate hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians in
southern Wadi Gaza from their return to their homes in the northern part
of the valley, following a week since the ceasefire began after more
than 15 months of what is described as the most brutal genocide in
modern times, and the unspeakable atrocities committed by Israel.</p>
<p>Since the announcement of the ceasefire agreement and the end of the
genocide, which was followed by negotiations leading to a final
agreement with known details, most displaced Palestinians have outlined
their plans for the first day their feet will touch northern Gaza Strip.</p>
<p><strong>Anticipation and waiting<br></strong>Citizen Mohammad Abu
Al-Araj (24 years old) says that as soon as the waves of displaced
people begin to return to their homes in Gaza City and its north, as
well as other areas of the Gaza Strip, he will go to his house to check
on it. He was forced to marry in Deir al-Balah in a tent on the beach.</p>
<p>He continues in his conversation with our reporter that he has
prepared an apartment for many years to live in it with his life
partner, but the war and displacement deprived him of the long-awaited
moments of celebration.</p>
<p>He affirms that he married in a tent in Deir al-Balah and faced the
harshest conditions of human life there, from scarcity of food and drink
to clothing. However, the ceasefire decision seems to have restored the
dream to his doorstep, and he has begun planning to check on his
apartment and repair it, especially since some of his neighbors informed
him that the occupation army had deliberately burned it.</p>
<p><strong>I will search for my sister<br></strong>As for citizen Abir
Al-Bayram (65 years old), a resident of Deir al-Balah, she confirmed to
our reporter that she plans to go to Gaza City to search for her missing
sister, Nahla Al-Bayram (68 years old).</p>
<p>She says, “For 15 months, my tears have not dried for my sister. She
is alone, her husband has died, and she has no children. My plan, once
the Netzarim axis is removed, is to go search for my sister myself.”</p>
<p>She cries as she speaks and continues: “I pray to God to get news
that tells me her fate. I suffer from visions and illusions, and I hope
to meet her, and that she is alive and well.”</p>
<p>She confirmed that she will turn the city upside down to uncover the
mystery of her sister’s disappearance, and extinguish the fire of pain
in her heart and that of her brothers.</p>
<p><strong>A day of celebration<br></strong>Meanwhile, citizen Mohannad
Rayhan (31 years old) said that the day of return to northern Gaza Strip
will be a true celebration, as he has been deprived of seeing his
family since the beginning of the genocide.</p>
<p>He says, “I sleep in the streets, and I can’t find a house to shelter
me. I plan to stay near my sick father, my mother, and my siblings. I
want to quench my thirst of longing for them.”</p>
<p>He speaks with a smile of pain and hope, saying he misses his
mother’s cooking, especially the “maftoul” and “maklouba,” affirming
that he will ask her to prepare these dishes. “We were deprived of food
and sleep, and now is the time for healing and harmony, despite the
horror of what happened.”</p>
<p><strong>I will sit on the ruins of my home<br></strong>Citizen Nadira
Muqaddad (70 years old) plans to sit on the ruins of her destroyed home
on the beach of Gaza City on the first day of her return, having been
forcibly displaced under bombardment and Zionist brutality.</p>
<p>She tells our reporter, “Sitting on the ruins of my destroyed home is
a message to the whole world that we will not abandon our homeland.
Just as we return to the Gaza Strip, we will return to our occupied
villages, whether people like it or not.”</p>
<p>“The air, sea, and sand of Gaza are dearer to me than the palaces of
the world. This city is one for which we die, and for which we live, as
it inhabited us before we inhabited it.”</p>
<p><strong>I will visit my son’s grave<br></strong>As for citizen Um
Shadi Radwan (66 years old), she cries bitterly when our reporter asks
her about her plan for the first day upon arriving in Gaza City. She
says, “I will not go anywhere before I visit the grave of my son Khaled,
who was martyred while I was displaced in the tents of the Mawasi Khan
Yunis.”</p>
<p>“I will cry, and cry, and cry. I will soak the soil with my tears, as
I was deprived of saying goodbye to him and of celebrating his
martyrdom with ululations,” says the grieving mother.</p>
<p>She continues that she will sprinkle flowers on his grave, will give
him water, and will visit him every day, for her longing for her eldest
son will not be extinguished over the days.</p>
<p><strong>Confusion<br></strong>As for citizen Mustafa Abu Al-Rous, he
remained silent for a long time before answering that he is confused and
does not know what he will do. He says, “They told us that our building
in Sheikh Radwan neighborhood was completely destroyed, and we do not
know what we will do, where we will live, or from where we will receive
essential services.”</p>
<p>He points out that he might have to build a tent here or there, adding, “The war may have ended, but our pain has not.”</p>
</div>
</div>