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

Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians began returning home to northern Gaza on Monday, bracing for what awaits them in a region that has been reduced to rubble by months of brutal bombardment and fighting.

In a now-viral post, made just hours before her death, Eman Al Shanti wrote on Facebook, "Is it possible that we are still alive after all this?''