1 year of war has rendered Gaza unrecognizable. Many fear there is little left to salvage

As relentless fighting and Israeli airstrikes continue to devastate Gaza one year after war between Hamas and Israel began, Palestinians like Mohamed Khaleel Al-Zaneen are beginning to lose hope that their homeland will ever look like it once did — at least not in the foreseeable future.

The 48-year-old father of four says leaving his land before the war would have been like taking a fish out of water — he would not have been able to survive. Now, he says, life in Gaza is unimaginable, but there's nowhere to go.

"Honestly, three months ago, I told myself even if no humans were left in Gaza, I would stay here and rebuild it," Al-Zaneen told CBC News.

But things changed when two of his nephews were killed earlier this year and both his houses in Beit Hanoun were flattened, forcing his family to flee from one place to another four times. In the past year, 40 members of his family have been killed in Israeli attacks.

"Nothing was left" for him in Gaza anymore, he told CBC's freelance videographer Mohamed El Saife in an interview last week.

Rough estimates by international organizations suggest it will take at least 15 years to clean up the 42 million tonnes of debris generated by the buildings, roads, bridges and other infrastructure destroyed or damaged in the conflict,

"The recent conflict in the Gaza Strip has produced a volume of debris that is 14 times greater than the combined total from all conflicts over the past 16 years," a UN analysis of satellite imagery from this past July found. 

Al-Zaneen says that even if a ceasefire is implemented, the years ahead will be grim. 

"I'm [almost] 50 years old. How am I going to stay in Gaza for another 20 years for it to be rebuilt?" he asked. "We're laughing at each other if we're saying that we're going to stay here."

Al-Zaneen, who worked as a general contractor before the war and now lives in a tent in the devastated southern city of Khan Younis, says that with no livelihood, he won't be able to live in Gaza even if the fighting between Israel and Hamas eventually ends.

"Gaza is completely destroyed. It's not even suitable for animals to live in," he said. "Let alone human beings."

On Monday, as Israelis mourned the lives lost and communities destroyed in the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks on Israel and Palestinians in Gaza marked a year of suffering and death unleashed in the wake of those attacks, many said they couldn't have predicted the war would last so long.

The grim anniversary comes as hope of an end to the fighting seems to be getting more remote by the day, with Israel expanding its military campaign on several fronts and its adversaries showing no sign of relenting.

Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza began a year ago after Palestinian militants staged the deadliest assault on Israel in its history, which Israeli officials say left 1,200 people dead and another 250 taken hostage, at least 70 of whom have since died, according to Israeli media.