“It was so long and tiring,” said 24-year-old Israa Shaheen, shortly after reaching Gaza City.

“Until the middle of the road, people were happy and singing and stuff like that, but then when it was taking a long time people were getting frustrated. Then we reached a sign that said ‘Welcome to Gaza’ and a lot of Palestinian flags and people began to feel joy again,” she said.

Others made the journey by car along a different route.

“There are thousands of people here. They’re filling the entire road… we are very happy but I am also feeling sad that I know I will reach Gaza City but my home is no longer there,” 42-year-old Wafaa Hassouna said on the phone as she neared the checkpoint.

When people reached their destinations, they spoke of their shock at what remained standing in their communities.

Mohammed Imad Al-Din, a barber who had been waiting at the checkpoint, returned to find his home destroyed, and his salon looted and damaged by a nearby Israeli strike.

Lubna Nassar had been waiting with her two daughters and son to be reunited with her husband. But while he had survived, their home was gone.

“The warmth of reunion was overshadowed by the bitter reality – we no longer have a home so we moved from a tent in the south to a tent in the north,” she said.