Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip — 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

Tens of thousands of Palestinians streamed into the most heavily destroyed part of the Gaza Strip on Monday as Israel lifted its closure of the north for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas in accordance with a fragile ceasefire.

My mother, father, and brothers are all buried in one grave,” 12-year-old Alma Ja’arour said. "There is no home to return to, no one waiting for me.”

After a ceasefire deal paused 15 months of war in Gaza, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians returned to the rubble of their homes.

Nedal Hamdouna, a Palestinian journalist, has been displaced seven times by the 15-month war in Gaza. Here, he describes the joy he felt in being able to return to Beit Lahia in the north of the strip

During a pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas, with fragile hopes for an end to the war, relief is soon weighed down by sorrow.

Despite the extreme hardships they have experienced and the long road ahead, children in Gaza are holding fast to their dreams of a better future.

A record 92.3 million passengers travelled through Dubai's international airport last year, its operator said on Thursday, underlining the Gulf city's economic boom.

Hamas began the process of freeing three more Israeli hostages and five Thai captives on Thursday, the third such release since a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip took hold earlier this month. Israel was expected to release another 110 Palestinian prisoners.

President Donald Trump has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House next week as the first