Vehicles queue up along the Salah al-Din road in Nuseirat near the Netzarim corridor while waiting to cross to the northern part of the Gaza Strip. AFP
The brief statement from the Hamas government's press office said the masses "returned today... to the governorates of the north" of Gaza.
According to the Gaza government's media office, 135,000 tents and caravans are needed in Gaza City and the north to shelter returning families.
Still, Hamas called the return "a victory" for Palestinians that "signals the failure and defeat of the plans for occupation and displacement".
People walk towards the Netzarim corridor to cross from the southern Gaza Strip north into Gaza City along Gaza's coastal al-Rashid Street. AFP
Under the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, Palestinians were allowed starting Monday to return north. The scenes of celebration were a sharp contrast to the misery and fear during the war as more than 1 million people fled south on the same routes to escape Israel’s assaults.
This aerial photo shows displaced Gazans walking toward Gaza City. AFP
Israel had prevented Palestinians from returning to northern Gaza, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said late Sunday they would be allowed to pass after a new agreement was reached.
Hamas had said blocking the returns amounted to a truce violation.
A sea of humanity moved through the now-open Netzarim Corridor into the north, watched over by Israeli tanks. Some pulled carts weighed down with mattresses and other essentials. Others carried what belongings they could.
After reaching the area, men embraced each other.
A man embraces another after having crossed the Netzarim corridor from the southern Gaza Strip north into Gaza City along Gaza's coastal al-Rashid Street. AFP
"Welcome to Gaza," read a newly erected banner hanging above a dirt road in front of a collapsed building in Gaza City.
"This is the happiest day of my life," said Lamees al-Iwady, a 22-year-old who returned to Gaza City after being displaced several times.
"I feel as though my soul and life have returned to me," she said. "We will rebuild our homes, even if it's with mud and sand."
With the joy of return came shock at the extent of destruction wrought by more than a year of war.
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