Full of grief after two years of war but glad to be going home, thousands of displaced Palestinians set off across the Gaza Strip on Friday, as a truce between Israel and Hamas took hold.

Timidly at first, then in a huge column, thousands walked northwards in a line at least a kilometer long from the safer areas of central Gaza towards Gaza City, the scene of a grueling Israeli offensive before Friday’s ceasefire.

People chanted “God is great,” cheering and whistling in their joy as they walked on a recently opened Mediterranean seafront road, AFP journalists saw.

Ibrahim al-Helou, a 40-year-old man from Gaza City displaced in the central refugee camp of Al-Maghazi, told AFP he was excited, but remained cautious.

He said that when he began heading home, “the situation was dangerous, with gunfire, so I waited for a while.”

“Now, the road has been opened and we have all continued on our way back to Gaza to check on our homes and assess the situation.”

Ahmad Azzam, a 35-year-old who was also displaced to central Gaza from Gaza City, said he moved as soon as he heard of the troops pulling back.

“When I heard news of the Israeli withdrawal and that the road would be opened in the coming hours, my family and I immediately headed to Al-Rashid Street to return to Gaza,” he told AFP.

He added that, like Helou, he found the situation dangerous at first, and initially chose to wait on a hill overlooking the coastal road.

“Only a few people are risking moving forward,” he said, speaking at noon, the time the troops’ pullback officially ended.

The military said Friday that troops had completed a withdrawal to agreed-upon deployment lines in the Gaza Strip on Friday at noon, officially beginning the ceasefire.

It said in a separate statement in Arabic that Gaza’s main north-south axis, Salah Al-Din Road, had also been reopened, but warned Gazans against approaching army troops still stationed inside the Palestinian territory.

Under a plan proposed by US President Donald Trump, the military was to withdraw to the so-called Yellow Line. During this first part of the withdrawal process, the military will still hold about 53 percent of the Gaza Strip.

In the southern city of Khan Younis, dozens walked back to their homes on paths cleared through piles of rubble accumulated from over two years of war and air strikes, an AFP journalist reported.

Destroyed and damaged buildings, their facades torn off by blasts or crumbling upon their foundations, stood on all sides as the returnees walked in the morning sun, shortly after news spread that Israeli forces had withdrawn from parts of Khan Younis.

“We’re happy. Even if we return to ruins with no life, at least it’s our land,” Ameer Abu Iyadeh, a returnee, told AFP.

“We’re going back to our areas, full of wounds and sorrow, but we thank God for this situation,” he said, smiling, a pink school backpack strapped to his chest, holding a jerrycan full of water in one hand and his young daughter in the other.

“God willing, everyone will return to their areas,” the 32-year-old said, while his two other daughters walked by his side, holding hands.

Areej Abu Saadeh, a Palestinian woman who lost a daughter and a son during the war, said she could not wait to get home.

“We’ve been displaced for two years now, living on the sidewalks with no shelter and nowhere to stay,” she told AFP.

“We’re now on our way to Bani Suheila, running — I just want to reach my place,” she said, referring to her town east of Khan Younis.

The cabinet voted early Friday in favor of a resolution providing for all hostages to be freed in the coming three-to-four days in exchange for Palestinian security prisoners, and for an end to the war in Gaza.

The hostages — some 20 living, at least 26 thought to be dead — are meant to come home within 72 hours of the completion of an agreed-upon withdrawal of the IDF.

The terror group has, in the past, told mediators it does not know where some of the bodies of slain hostages are located, which may delay the release of the bodies.

Israel is due to release 250 Palestinian security prisoners serving life sentences, plus another 1,700 Gazans imprisoned since the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack that launched the war.