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VICE News

Rockets and Revenge

Henry Langston reports from Beit Lahiya in Gaza, where families found their homes in ruins.

This week, the residents of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip, took advantage of the first day of the Egypt-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. On Tuesday, they began returning to their homes to find what was left after almost four weeks of war.

Until then, the residents of the areas hit hardest by shelling and airstrikes had been unable to return, for fear of getting trapped amid the violence. VICE News correspondent Henry Langston reported from the al-Nahda towers in Beit Lahiya, where families found their homes in ruins and tried to salvage what was left of their personal belongings.

But in Beit Hanoun, the grim task of recovering the dead trapped underneath the rubble was underway, with some bodies having lain undiscovered since the start of the conflict. Families were burying their loved ones as bulldozers, helped by an army of locals, were busy trying to uncover more corpses. With the ceasefire holding for now, this grim task is set to be repeated over the coming days and weeks.