During the ceasefire, some Palestinians from Gaza returned to their homes in the northern and central Gaza Strip – only to find rubble and rubble.

Some Palestinians returned to their homes in the central and northern parts of the Gaza Strip after a year four-day ceasefire came into force.

But for many, only rubble awaited where their homes once stood.

Al Jazeera’s Hisham Zaqout visited the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza on Saturday, where he spoke to several Palestinians who took advantage of the lull in fighting to return to their neighborhoods – only to find complete destruction.

“Our home is destroyed, nothing remains standing. And most of the ducks and chickens were eaten by hungry street dogs,” said an elderly woman.

“This is not a war; it is a genocide,” she added. “These are unprecedented crimes.”

Zaqout said many residents of the Bureij camp had been forced to travel to the Nuseirat refugee camp further west due to constant, intense shelling by the Israeli military since last month.

When they returned, they found their houses razed to the ground and some of the dead buried under the rubble. The elderly woman said she “came every now and then despite the ruthless shelling.”

“It was very dangerous, but I have to come and check on my chickens. I’m not afraid. If I am destined to be killed, I will die. My life is not in the hands of the Zionists.”

“I hope the ceasefire can last forever”

Another resident of the camp spoke of the unimaginable destruction that awaited him upon his return.

“Honestly, I could never have imagined the extent of the destruction; “Not even 1 percent of it,” said the young man.

“My house was shot at. It was damaged and is no longer habitable. It needs to be rebuilt again,” he added.

When asked how he could stay there again, he said he would rather live in a house without walls “than be humiliated in overcrowded UN schools.”

“We drink sea water and pretend it’s fresh water. What can we do?”

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been forced to seek refuge in United Nations-run schools since the war began. But they too have proven unsafe, and many Israeli attacks on them have killed dozens of civilians.

The armisticeThe agreement, which runs until Monday, calls for the release of dozens of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel in exchange for Israelis and other nationals held in Gaza.

It may be expandedthe United States and others have signaled, but Israel and its Western allies have not supported a ceasefire in the besieged strip.

Another Gaza resident told Al Jazeera that he wanted “eternal peace, not just four days, because people have been through too much pain and are still suffering.”

“I hope the ceasefire can last forever. Why? Because we are tired, we are tired of such a life.”

Another displaced Palestinian, a resident of Khuza’a in the southern Gaza Strip, said the extent of the destruction shocked them upon their return to the north.

“The destruction is very great, the tears flow on their own. God is enough for us and that’s all I can say.”