Thousands of displaced people begin returning to northern Gaza via Rashid Street

Thousands of displaced Palestinians began returning to Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip on Monday via Rashid Coastal Street in the central Gaza Strip.

Thousands of people spent the past two nights in the open on Rashid and Salah al-Din Streets, despite the bitter cold, waiting for the occupation forces to allow them to return to their homes after forcing them to leave and flee to the south.

Most of the displaced persons walked to the return route via Rashid Street, a distance of at least 7 kilometers.

Between October the 7th, 2023 and January 19, 2025, the Israeli occupation forces launched an aggression on the Gaza Strip, which resulted in the killing and injury of more than 158 thousand people, most of whom were children and women, and left more than 14 thousand missing.

The Israeli occupation aggression resulted in the displacement of more than 85% of the citizens of the Gaza Strip, more than 1.93 million citizens out of 2.2 million, from their homes after their destruction, and about 100 thousand citizens have left the Strip since the beginning of the aggression.

About 1.6 million citizens of the Strip currently live in shelters and tents that lack the minimum requirements for human life, amidst massive and unprecedented destruction of infrastructure and citizens’ property.