An early element of the six-week Gaza ceasefire agreement was that Palestinians from northern Gaza whom the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) had forced to move south would be able to return. That was meant to happen after Hamas released the second group of hostages last weekend but was delayed for 48 hours.
When it was finally allowed, early on Monday 27 January, the sudden mass movement of people was extraordinary. Before the war, the majority of Gazans lived in the north of the territory, around perhaps 1.3 million out of a total population of 2.3 million. Because of IDF actions, and especially the massive use of air power, close to a million had moved with just 400,000 staying behind.
The near-desperation to return, whether or not their homes had even survived, was such that more than 200,000 had streamed back by noon on the first day alone, with many tens of thousands more returning to the area in the days that followed.
