For the 376,000 Gazans who have returned to the enclave's north in just over 24 hours, the joy of coming home has been mixed with despair over the territory's devastation.

The Hamas government raised as of Wednesday the number of displaced Palestinians who have returned to the northern Gaza Strip since last Monday to 500,000. The north to which they return, which includes Gaza City and the towns of Jabalia,

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.