WATCH: Gazans come back home – but there's nothing left

Palestinians began returning to their homes across Gaza on Sunday as the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect, delayed by three hours until 11:15 AM local time. The truce marks a pause in the 15-month conflict that has displaced many of Gaza's 2.3 million residents.

Palestinians returning to their homes are now confronting scenes of destruction, particularly in northern Gaza's Jabalia refugee camp. The brief moments of celebration have given way to grief as residents discover the full extent of damage to their communities.

Gaza resembles apocalyptic scenes straight out of a horror show.

"I survived with my two daughters, we came out from under the rubble of our house," said Duaa al-Khalidi, 28, who returned to Jabalia's al-Faluja area.

Upon returning to Jabalia, Hussein Awda found his three-story home and sports club in ruins.

And there are many more stories like this.

As humanitarian aid trucks begin entering through Rafah, residents remain cautious about the ceasefire's stability.

But let's not forget why Gaza looks like it does.

Gaza was a completely different place on October 6th, 2023. None of this had to happen.

But along came Hamas to terrorize them, abuse them, rob them and cynically embed themselves into civilian population.

And that's their own people!

Hamas had every opportunity to lay down their weapons and give back the hostages they stole from us, and we are not even talking about the murders, beheadings, rapes and torture of innocent Israeli civilians on October 7th - both Jews and non-Jews.

They were given opportunity after opportunity and they spat in our faces and murdered our hostages.

And then, when they finally "gave" three of our hostages back yesterday, we saw that sadly and unfortunately, after all of this destruction, they are still alive and kicking, and they hate us more than ever.