On Friday, a steady stream of people, the vast majority on foot, crammed onto a coastal road in the central Gaza Strip, heading north. Some carried backpacks and other belongings as they walked past tents overlooking the sea. Others sped by on bicycles and motorcycles. Horns sounded and some cars tried to weave through the crowds.Ala Khandour said he no longer had a home to return to. Still, he wanted to go back north.“I want to go and find a place to shelter in with my children," he said. ”We wish to go back and find a place in a school or a camp to live there.”Some wondered how they could afford the trip back or if their homes were still standing. Others said they were not yet certain it was safe enough for them to immediately return.“I will wait in Khan Younis until I am confident that all is safe for me and my family,” said Rana Saleh, who fled her home in September.Similarly, Mahmoud Sharkawy was waiting in the Nuseriat refugee camp in central Gaza.“I am planning to return to Gaza City, but not now," said Sharkawy, who fled Gaza City in late August. “I will wait a few days to make sure it is safe to return.”On Friday, hundreds of Palestinians also tried to return to homes in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis, only to find wrecked buildings, rubble and destruction.“There was nothing left, just a few clothes, pieces of wood, and pots,” said Fatma Radwan who was displaced from eastern Khan Younis. There was destruction everywhere, she said, adding that efforts were ongoing to retrieve bodies from under the rubble.For some, the destruction has meant having no choice but to stay where they are.“We want the truce to last. This is what we are hoping for. Enough displacement,” said Nawal Aboul Deeb. “Have some mercy on us. Have some mercy for all that we have witnessed."