After seven weeks of bombardment stopped in Gaza for a truce, Tahani al-Najjar is using today’s calm to return to the ruins of her home, smashed by an Israeli air strike that she said killed seven of her family and forced her into a shelter, Reuters reports.
More than 24 hours into the four-day pause in fighting, thousands of Gaza residents are making that same difficult journey from communal shelters and makeshift encampments to discover what has become of their homes.
“Where will we live? Where will we go? We are trying to collect bits of wood to build a tent to shelter us but to no avail. There is nothing to shelter a family,” Najjar said, picking through the rubble and twisted metal of her house.
Najjar, a 58-year-old mother of five from Khan Younis in the south of the enclave, said Israel’s military had also levelled her house in two previous conflicts in 2008 and 2014.
