ISRAELI FORCES BEGIN TO WITHDRAW FROM NORTHERN AND WESTERN GAZA CITY
Residents in northern and western Gaza City are reeling from the unprecedented destruction left behind as Israeli forces withdrew from several neighborhoods after weeks of intense bombardment and demolition.
For the first time in weeks, people have been able to enter the Sheikh Radwan, al-Karama, and Beach Camp areas, only to discover entire residential blocks leveled, hundreds of homes obliterated, and much of the area’s infrastructure reduced to rubble.
Dozens of videos circulating on social media show residents walking through the debris, capturing the remains of their neighborhoods. In one video, a man’s voice can be heard saying: “This is the last area we can reach. The Israeli army is still nearby. Look at the scale of destruction—they’ve destroyed everything.”
While some residents documented the ruins, others joined Hamas’s Gaza Civil Defense teams in the grim task of recovering bodies from beneath the wreckage. Spokesman Mahmoud Basal told the BBC that eight bodies were recovered from northern Gaza on Friday morning, with rescue teams continuing their search “with very limited means” in other areas.
Similar scenes of destruction have been reported across multiple districts vacated by Israeli forces, who have begun pulling back to agreed lines under the ceasefire framework negotiated in Sharm El-Sheikh between Hamas and Israel.
Approximately 700,000 displaced people from Gaza City and the northern areas are now anxiously awaiting the completion of the withdrawal to return to what remains of their homes.
Alaa Saleh, a teacher who fled with his wife and six children to Khan Younis three weeks ago, shared his desperation to return north once the coastal road reopens: “My house was destroyed a year ago. I was living in a tent on the ruins, and I will go back and pitch my tent again. We just want to rebuild. We’re tired of living in tents that offer no protection from the heat of summer or the cold of winter.”
