Thousands of Palestinians poured onto Gaza’s battered coastal road Friday morning, walking north with children in tow and belongings strapped to carts and shoulders, marking a rare dawn of cautious optimism after two years of relentless Israeli attacks.
The movement came just hours after the Israeli military announced the activation of a long-anticipated cease-fire with Hamas – a deal brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump that could mark the most significant pause in hostilities since the conflict erupted in October 2023.
Footage broadcast across Arab networks showed long lines of families trudging along the Rashid coastal road south of the Wadi Gaza bridge – the same route that, for months, had served as a grim escape corridor for civilians fleeing bombardment.
Now, it carried them homeward.
The truce officially began at 9:00 a.m. GMT (12:00 p.m. local time), following Israel’s late-night cabinet ratification and signaled a tentative shift from destruction to recovery.
