Adham Bartawi had hoped for the best when he set off back to his family home in the north of Gaza after more than a year – but he was shocked at what he found.

“Half our house is gone,” the 31-year-old told the BBC from the ruins of where he used to live in the northern city of al-Zahra.

“It looks like it was bulldozed – the living room is gone, the kitchen is gone, most of it is gone. The only thing remaining is two rooms and one bathroom… If I leave now they might be looted,” he said.

Adham is one of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have made it back to the north since Israel allowed displaced residents to start to return on Monday.

The return is a result of the ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel that is aimed at permanently ending the war that began when Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023.

A United Nations official told the BBC there was a “massive, massive effort ahead” to ensure that key services were provided to those returning north.