'Where are the houses?' Palestinian man says after returning to remnants of Rafah home

Hundreds of Palestinians made their way to the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Tuesday, after the Israel-Hamas ceasefire took effect two days earlier, to see what remains of their homes — if anything. 

While some were able to dig up miscellaneous items deep under the rubble, many were left feeling hopeless after dreaming about the possibility of returning to their homes and potentially repairing or rebuilding them.

Adel Labad, an engineer, was among other displaced Palestinians on Tuesday, looking at what remains of his Rafah home.

"Where are the houses? Where are the streets? Where [are] the trees? Where are the animals? Where [are] the people we love?" Labad told CBC News on Tuesday. "Rafah is very sad. I can't imagine how we could re-construct it."

Labad, 61, said hope is dissipating for him and many others as they absorb the extent of the damage and the decades it could take to rebuild their homes and cities. He couldn't find any remnants of his home.

"The future is very [grim]," he said.

'No joy at all'

Meanwhile, Khadra and Hazem Abu Rizq sifted through the rubble with their young son, trying to find anything that may remain of their home. 

"We weren't expecting ... Rafah to become like this," Hazem Abu Rizq, 38, told CBC News.

WATCH | Displaced Palestinians return to inspect homes in Rafah: 

‘Where are the houses?’ Palestinians return to a grim Rafah to see what remains of their homes

6 days ago

Duration 0:46

More Palestinians are returning to where they lived in the Gaza Strip before they were displaced in the 15-month-long war, after a ceasefire took effect Sunday. Some on Tuesday were shocked to see what little remains of their homes that once stood in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

The Abu Rizq family was among a majority of Palestinians who were displaced multiple times, with many having to find shelter in tent encampments interspersed between cities — although Israeli airstrikes spared no area of the coastal enclave.

Unaware of the state of their home, 34-year-old Khadra hoped they would find a room intact or any item left behind.

"We returned and we didn't find anything and we couldn't get anything out at all," she said.

"Our hearts were shattered a long time ago."

As with many other families in Gaza, Israeli airstrikes killed members of the Abu Rizq family.

Khadra and her husband dug up three of their relatives in southern Gaza on Monday and buried them after they had gone missing and were presumed dead four months ago. 

"I swear there is no joy at all," Khadra said.

A 'ghost town' 

Drone footage of Rafah shows much of the city has been flattened during the longest and deadliest war between Israel and Hamas, with mounds of rubble stretching as far as the eye can see.

"It became a ghost town," said 38-year-old Hussein Barakat.

"There is nothing," he said, drinking coffee on a brown armchair perched on the rubble of his three-story home — a surreal scene.

The Israeli military seized control of the Rafah crossing on the Gaza side in May 2024. Many Palestinians who were forced to flee Rafah had dreamed about being able to return one day — but only after Israeli bombings stop.

Critics say Israel has waged a scorched earth campaign to destroy the fabric of life in Gaza, accusations that are being considered in two international courts, including the crime of genocide. Israel denies those charges and says its military has been fighting a complex battle in dense urban areas and that it tries to avoid causing undue harm to civilians and their infrastructure.

Monotone grey covers territory

From a fierce air campaign during the first weeks of the war to a ground invasion that sent in thousands of troops in tanks, the Israeli response to the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, has ground down much of the civilian infrastructure of the Gaza Strip, displacing 90 per cent of its population.

The brilliant colour of pre-war life has faded into a monotone cement grey that dominates the territory.

A United Nations assessment from satellite imagery showed more than 60,000 structures across Gaza had been destroyed and more than 20,000 severely damaged as of Dec. 1, 2024. The preliminary assessment of conflict-generated debris, including of buildings and roads, was more than 50 million tonnes. It noted the analysis had not yet been validated in the field.

Israel's military campaign has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to its health ministry. The ministry says women and children make up more than half of the fatalities, but does not say how many of the dead were fighters. Israel says it killed more than 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

A peer-reviewed study published in The Lancet on Jan. 9 suggests the official figures may be significant underestimates. On June 30, 2024, the Gaza Health Ministry reported 37,877 deaths; the study estimated the number was likely around 64,200 by that date.

Search still underway for bodies under rubble

The Palestinian Civil Defence said Monday a search is underway for an estimated 10,000 bodies buried in Gaza's rubble.

Gaza's Health Ministry said 72 bodies had been taken to hospitals in the past 24 hours, almost all of them recovered from attacks before the ceasefire. An unknown number of bodies remain unreachable because they are in northern Gaza, where access remains restricted, or in buffer zones where Israeli forces are operating.

Meanwhile, more than 900 trucks of aid entered Gaza on the second day of the ceasefire on Monday, the UN said — significantly higher than the 600 trucks called for in the deal — in a rush to supply food, medicines and other needs. The UN has described the situation for the more than two million people in Gaza as "staggering."

"Most importantly, we want things that will warm us in winter," said Mounir Abu Seiam on Tuesday, as people gathered in the southern city of Khan Younis to receive food.