The joy of thousands of Palestinian families who made it back home in north Gaza after a ceasefire with Israel is turning to despair as the cold reality of uninhabitable, bombed-out homes and dire shortages of basic supplies sets in.

My mother, father, and brothers are all buried in one grave,” 12-year-old Alma Ja’arour said. "There is no home to return to, no one waiting for me.”

Thousands of Palestinians have returned to northern Gaza for the second day, walking kilometres to reach home.

Nedal Hamdouna, a Palestinian journalist, has been displaced seven times by the 15-month war in Gaza. Here, he describes the joy he felt in being able to return to Beit Lahia in the north of the strip

After a ceasefire deal paused 15 months of war in Gaza, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians returned to the rubble of their homes.

Ali Al-Ansari, media attache to the Qatari Embassy to the United States, told Newsweek his nation "appreciates the important role and positive impact of President Trump and his administration, particularly the efforts of his special envoy Steve Witkoff, in finalizing the agreement."

Despite the extreme hardships they have experienced and the long road ahead, children in Gaza are holding fast to their dreams of a better future.

With a ceasefire agreement pausing the war between Israel and Hamas, Israeli troops have withdrawn from Gaza city centers. For the first time in eight months, NPR got a glimpse of Rafah this week.

As families reunite, they also confront the devastation wrought by the 15-month war. Tens of thousands of tents are being sent to northern Gaza, where entire neighborhoods have been flattened.

The historic return of Palestinians, after 15 months of Israeli devastation, marks the triumph of the human spirit over organised oppression

As US President Donald Trump was announcing his controversial plan to "clean out" Gaza, hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians in the southern enclave began celebrating their return to their homes - or what little remains of them - in the northern Gaza Strip.