‘We lost hope. We lost everything’: Gaza City residents struggle to cope

When Mahmoud Murtaja and his family returned to their home in Gaza, they never imagined the desolation that awaited.

Gaza City, Gaza Strip – Mahmoud Murtaja’s return to his home in eastern Gaza City was as heartbreaking as his forced departure had been when the Israeli army began its ground offensive into the city about three months ago.

Although the bombardments have not stopped, Murtaja thought returning to their home might bring him and his family some comfort, finally breaking the cycle of endless temporary evacuations.

But when he arrived where his home had been, his hopes were swiftly dashed. His three-storey house was nowhere to be seen. In its place were only piles of dirt and blackened rubble.

“We had heard that our area was subjected to heavy fire from Israeli artillery and air attacks during the ground assault,” Murtaja told Al Jazeera.

“We certainly expected to see some destruction,” he said. “But we didn’t imagine that the house would be completely destroyed and that we would have to search through the dirt for our belongings to identify where it had been. We couldn’t even find any trace of walls or a roof.”