Entire neighbourhoods have been reduced to rubble, leaving millions of people reliant on humanitarian aid for shelter and survival. [Mahmoud Isleem/Anadolu]

Gaza City, January 20 (RHC)-- Much of the Gaza Strip is destroyed after more than 15 months of relentless Israeli bombings, leaving hundreds of thousands of Palestinians with nowhere to live.

About 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents were forcibly displaced during the genocide – many of them multiple times.  With a ceasefire now in effect, many are returning to their homes, but more than a year of Israeli bombardment has left most houses in ruins and completely uninhabitable.

“The halting of the bloodshed is an indescribable feeling. I thank God that I survived this war safely. However, when we returned to our homes, we found nothing but ruin and destruction. I cannot describe the scene in words. I don’t know what to say,” Jomaa Shadi, a displaced Palestinian, told Al Jazeera.

“I built this house piece by piece, and when I returned to it, I didn’t find it as I knew it.  I don’t see my home, I only see destruction.”

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has killed at least 46,707 Palestinians and injured 110,265. Some estimates put the actual toll at much higher. [Mohammed Salem/Reuters]
reduced to rubble

Some experts estimate that it will take at least a decade to remove the 42 million tonnes of rubble in Gaza.