Palestinians in Gaza could soon leave their makeshift camps and tents behind under a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
But after 15 months of war, many will be returning to rubble where their homes once stood.
Before October 2023, the tiny enclave was impoverished and densely populated, but full of life — restaurants, shops, makeshift soccer pitches, universities and hospitals.
Apartment buildings dotted the shoreline of the Mediterranean Sea.
The beaches were a place where children would swim and play.
Now, images tell the story of how drastically Palestinians' lives have changed.
Footage shows entire neighbourhoods reduced to rubble.
The sandy coast and surrounding farmland has been overtaken by thousands of tents for the displaced, visible from space.
Rebuilding could take 350 years
The current war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas fighters crossed the border into Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking a further 250 people hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel's subsequent offensive in Gaza has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry.
Earlier this week, the United Nations (UN) estimated at least 1.9 million Gazans have been displaced.
About 92 per cent of housing units are destroyed, 68 per cent of the road network is destroyed or damaged, 88 per cent of school buildings need rebuilding or major repairs, and there are "zero" fuel reserves to operate generators at hospitals.
The ceasefire deal brokered by the United States and Qatar does not specify who will govern the Gaza Strip after the war ends.
There are also no details on whether it would mean Israel and Egypt will lift a blockade, which limits the movement of people and goods that they imposed when Hamas seized power in 2007.
Without lifting the blockade, the UN has said it could take more than 350 years to rebuild Gaza.
There's still uncertainty over the extent of the damage. The UN's estimate was based on reviewing satellite data.
From the first four months of war, the World Bank estimated the damage bill was $US18.5 billion ($29.7 billion) — nearly the combined economic output of the West Bank and Gaza in 2022.
Moeen Khodr, a father of four from northern Gaza, said people were desperate to get home, no matter what was left.
"Everyone wants to go back to their real place of birth, their real homes," he said.
"People know that there is nothing left for them, no land, no money, no homes, nothing is left for them. But they very much want to go back to where they used to live, even if they lived under the sky, even without tents."
More than 50 million tons of debris
The UN estimates Gaza was littered with more than 50 million tons of rubble as a result of the war.
With over 100 trucks working full-time, it would more than 15 years to clear the rubble away.
There is little open space in the narrow coastal territory that was home to about 2.3 million Palestinians before the current conflict.
It is not known how many people killed in air strikes and unexploded ordnance are buried in the debris.
Nearly 90 per cent of schools damaged
The World Health Organization said by December 31 last year only 18 of the 36 hospitals in Gaza were partially functioning with a total capacity of 1800 beds.
The United Nations' agency for children, UNICEF, estimated about 88 per cent of schools had been damaged
More than half of Gaza's agricultural land, crucial for feeding the population, has been degraded by conflict, according to the United Nations analysis of satellite images.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization said last year about 15,000 cattle, or more than 95 per cent, had been slaughtered or died since the conflict began, and nearly half the sheep.
Umm Mohammed Hanoun, a displaced Gazan, was devastated to learn that his house was destroyed.
"The largest piece of the house is now tiny," he said.
"I hope for reconstruction to take place in Gaza, and for Gaza and our lives to return to what they used to be and what we had always dreamed of."
For other Gazans, home will never be the same.
"I only wish to return to Gaza City for one reason: I wish to see my father again," Sami Abu Tahoun, a child sheltering in the Al-Nuseirat camp, said.
"Since our displacement, I lost something essential in life — the presence of a father."
ABC/Wires
