In Gaza, some choose their wrecked and damaged houses rather than displacement

(27 Nov 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

++CLIENTS PLEASE NOTE: UPDATED VERSION UPLOADED WITH CORRECTED SPELLING OF MUWASI++

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jabaliya, Northern Gaza Strip - 26 November 2025
1. Various of partially destroyed house and rubble
2. Various of children climbing wooden stairs to reach their partially destroyed home
3. Various of Amany Halawa lighting fire to cook inside her destroyed home
4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Amany Halawa, woman living in her partially destroyed house:
”I was impatiently waiting for a (ceasefire) deal. The house was in a hopeless state. The pillars and the wreckage, it was a lot. My husband told me it was not habitable and there is no staircase, but I insisted on coming back. We are suffering anyway, better to be in our home rather than stranded near the sea (in a tent). Even if I'm surronded by the scent of rubble and strikes, it is enough to have shelter.”
5. Various of Halawa cooking over burning wood inside her destroyed home
6. Various of clothes hanging to dry inside
7. Various of destruction
8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mohamed Halawa, living in his partially destroyed house:
”When the ceasefire came into effect, I came back to my home to find it destroyed. The staircase was gone and it was scattered everywhere. I tried to stay elsewhere but I couldn’t. I had to clean up the house, and build an external wooden staircase. I cleaned up. Some of the rooms, you could see, could collapse at any moment, but I had to live here because there are no safe areas.”
9. Various of kitchen under a collapsed roof
10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mohamed Halawa, living in his partially destroyed house:
"It is clear that there is no truce. We are very close to the yellow line. It is some 500 meters away. Everyday, every minute, there is a bombing. Every minute, rubble falls on us. But I am steadfast in my house, and I am not moving. I will not live in a tent because it is agonizing.”
11. Various of clothes hanging to dry outside the destroyed home
12. Various of Mohamed using wooden stairs to leave his house and walking among the rubble outside his partially destroyed home
13. Various of destruction
14. Yaqoub Awad and his child sitting under a sloping roof inside their partially destroyed home
15. Various of family’s belongings dangling from the collapsed ceiling
16. Various of Yaqoub combing his child's hair
17. Yaqoub sitting with his son inside their destroyed home
18. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Yaqoub Awad, living in destroyed house:
”We have been forced to stay under a crumbling ceiling to protect ourselves against the winter and humiliation. We get soaked during winter. We tried to ask about tarps to stop the water leakage. Until now, no one has helped us out.”
19. Various of Aisha Awad washing dishes outside her destroyed home
20. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Aisha Awad, living in destroyed house:
”This has become our bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, our shower, our laundry. It has become everything. In the past, we had living rooms and were living a nice life. Today, whatever remains in this small house is shielding us.”
21. Aisha Awad washing dishes
22. Various of Awad family's destroyed house
23. Various of destruction
STORYLINE:
Longing to return to their homes, Palestinians chose the relative safety and familiarity of their wrecked and damaged houses over displacement.

For some of the returnees, restoring their homes is a slow yet steady process.

Amany Halawa returned to her home in Jabaliya in northern Gaza with her family after months of displacement, only to find it in complete ruins.














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