Mahmoud Ayoub busily packed warm blankets and clothes in the Nusseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. Like so many other displaced Palestinians, the 33-year-old worker and his family had been living in a tent here for the past few months.

"I am overjoyed at the thought of returning to the north of the Gaza Strip after being displaced for 16 months. The news of the [Israel-Hamas ceasefire] has given us hope," he told DW.

Ayoub, a father of three young children, prepared to return home with his family to Sheikh Radwan, a neighborhood in Gaza City, on Monday morning. People from neighboring tents, all displaced Palestinians from northern Gaza, helped to take down the tent and fold it neatly. Some wanted to wait a few days and see how the situation developed. There was relief but also concern about what awaits them in northern Gaza.

"We contacted several friends in the north to ask about the condition of our house," Ayoub said. "They told us it was almost destroyed, and we're unsure if we can still live in it. We've decided to return regardless. If we can't live in the house, we'll pitch our tent next to it and live there, my wife, children and I."

The family had to plan the journey on foot like hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were forcibly displaced from northern Gaza during the war.

"We don't know what the journey will be like, whether it will be easy or difficult. The road is long, about 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) along the coast," he said, worrying most about how his children would cope.

On Sunday, thousands of Palestinians were waiting on Rashid Street, a road that runs from south to north along........

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