A long line of cars, tuk-tuks, small lorries and carts stretched along Gaza's Salaheddin Road on Sunday after Israel withdrew its forces from a strategic area bisecting the territory.

The traffic crawled slowly along the road, where mounds of earth had been piled high by now-departed Israeli bulldozers, into the eastern part of the Netzarim Corridor, which separates the northern Gaza Strip from its south.

After more than 15 months of war, a fragile truce with Hamas that went into effect last month saw Israeli forces limiting their presence in the Gaza Strip.

The Netzarim Corridor and Salaheddin Road reopened fully on Sunday, enabled by the Israeli withdrawal following the completion of a fifth hostage-prisoner exchange the day before as part of the truce deal.

Among the vehicles wending their way........

© Al Monitor