BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip (AP) — The grove of orange, olive and palm trees that once stood in front of Ne’man Abu Jarad’s house was bulldozed away. The roses and jasmine flowers on the roof and in the garden, which he lovingly watered so his family could enjoy their fragrance, were also gone.

Scrambling over sand banks and craters, hundreds of thousands of Palestinian families describe the long trek back home to Nedal Hamdouna inside Gaza and Bel Trew

Gaza has suffered vast destruction with a colossal humanitarian impact. More than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed during Israel's military action, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, and much infrastructure across the strip has been levelled by air strikes.

Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians traveled along the coast of Gaza on Jan. 27 to the north of the enclave after Israel opened roadblocks.

Crowds of displaced Palestinians made the arduous journey back to heavily destroyed northern Gaza for a second day Tuesday, under a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians streamed into Gaza’s most heavily destroyed area on Monday after Israel opened the north for the first time since the early weeks of the war with Hamas, a dramatic reversal of their exodus 15 months ago.