Tens Of Thousands Return To Devastated Northern Gaza

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Tens of thousands of Palestinians are returning to the most heavily destroyed part of the Gaza Strip. Israel lifted its closure of northern Gaza on Monday for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas in accordance with a fragile ceasefire. Massive crowds of people carrying their belongings on foot stretched along a main highway running next to the coast in a stunning reversal of the mass exodus from the north at the start of the war, which many Palestinians had feared Israel would make permanent. Palestinians who have been sheltering in squalid tent camps for over a year are eager to return to their homes — even knowing that they have likely been damaged or destroyed.