GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories, Feb 9, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - A long line of cars, tuk-tuks, small lorries and carts stretched along Gaza's Salaheddin Road on Sunday after Israel withdrew its forces from a strategic area bisecting the territory.

The traffic crawled slowly along the road, where mounds of earth had been piled high by now-departed Israeli bulldozers, into the eastern part of the Netzarim Corridor, which separates the northern Gaza Strip from its south.

After more than 15 months of war, a fragile truce with Hamas that went into effect last month saw Israeli forces limiting their presence in the Gaza Strip.

The Netzarim Corridor and Salaheddin Road reopened fully on Sunday, enabled by the Israeli withdrawal following the completion of a fifth hostage-prisoner exchange the day before as part of the truce deal.
Among the vehicles wending their way along the dusty dirt road were lorries piled high with household belongings, blankets, carpets and furniture.

Finally able to move around the area, many Palestinians returned to their homes to find them destroyed in the fighting.

"What we saw was a catastrophe, horrific destruction. The (Israeli) occupation destroyed all the homes, shops, farms, mosques, universities and the courthouse," said Osama Abu Kamil, a resident of Al-Maghraqa just north of Netzarim.

The 57-year-old said he had been displaced by the war for more than a year, living in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.

Now back to the north, Abu Kamil said he "will set up a tent for me and my family next to the rubble of our house. We have no choice."

He said that as displaced Gazans in makeshift shelters, they had "lived through severe suffering".

"Life in Gaza is worse than hell."
- 'Very dangerous' -
The war, sparked by Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel in October 2023, saw the Israeli military relentlessly bombarding Gaza, leaving much of the already impoverished territory in ruins.

More than 48,000 people have been killed in Gaza during the war, according to Hamas-run territory's health ministry, and over 90 percent of Palestinians there have been displaced at least once, according to the United Nations.

The violence has largely halted, but the population has been left drained and traumatised by the violence.

Mahmoud al-Sarhi, a resident of Zeitun neighbourhood near the Netzarim Corridor, said that Sunday was "the first time I saw our destroyed house".

"Arriving at the Netzarim Corridor meant death -- until this morning," said the 44-year-old.

While the Israeli forces have left, Sarhi said he still did not feel safe.

"The entire area is in ruins. I cannot live here. Israeli tanks can invade at any time. The area is unfit for normal living. It is very dangerous."

The scale of the destruction was visible on Al-Shuhada Street, which also crosses the Netzarim Corridor, with dozens of houses and some university buildings reduced to rubble.

In some places, the road itself had been damaged in the fighting, with large craters visible.

Workers had begun repairing some of the road.

Mohamed Ali, 20, travelling from Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, said conditions on the roads were "difficult because of the amount of destruction and bombing".

"God willing, the road will be better again," he said.