The Long Road Home for Gazans

The Daily – The New York Times
Date: October 30, 2025
Host: Rachel Abrams
Field Reporting: Rochelle Banja

Overview

This emotionally charged episode of The Daily explores the aftermath of a ceasefire in Gaza following a protracted war between Israel and Hamas. With foreign journalists still barred from entering Gaza, New York Times producer Rochelle Banja speaks remotely with multiple Gazans attempting to return north to their devastated homes. Their stories reflect harrowing displacement, profound loss, the desperate hope of returning home, and the enduring trauma inflicted on ordinary Palestinians.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Context: Ceasefire and Return

• Ceasefire Announcement: Three weeks before the episode, a ceasefire was reached. Israel agreed to pull back from some areas, enabling displaced Gazans—mostly in the south—to journey back north.
• Devastation in Gaza: Up to 90% of Gazans have been displaced, many repeatedly. Upon their return, most find their neighborhoods flattened, a haunting testament to two years of relentless war.
  (Rachel Abrams, 01:51, 40:44)

2. The Journey Home: Along the Seaside Road

• Scenes of Return: Rochelle Banja narrates thousands of Gazans heading north on foot via Al Rashid Street—a once-bustling seaside road now lined with destroyed structures.
  • Children are described in “nice clothes,” excited to return despite uncertainty and trauma.
  • Small moments of normalcy arise: vendors selling peanuts, drivers honking in impatience, and families clinging to their few remaining possessions.
• Transformation in Spirit: Having previously photographed people in despair, Photojournalist Sahir notices a shift: "Now they're saying, 'please take my photo.'... because they are going back to their homes."
  (Sahir, 08:14)
• Changing Identity: Many returnees are unrecognizable, both in their changed attitude and the total transformation of their surroundings.

Notable Quote:

• Sahir: "When I got to Gaza City, I did go back to my street and I'm telling you I'm from there. And I got there and I didn't recognize anything at all... nothing, nothing, nothing. It was really like a loss of identity." (Sahir, 15:40)

3. Memories of Home & The Pain of Loss

Nidal Kho - Displaced Waiter

• Background: Nidal, a former waiter at a popular restaurant, shares memories of his modest, “spiritually warm” family home built by his father, now likely destroyed.
• Home as Identity: He describes the home as the “small country in your big country,” where “the initial spark in somebody starts.”
• Hope Amidst Destruction: Despite fearing its destruction, Nidal clings to the hope, "even if it's just the roof, I'll bring a tarp and I'll just remake a house out of it... I'll rebuild it, I'll restore it." (Nidal, 12:12)

Notable Quote:

• Nidal: “To lose a home, I don't have words for the kind of agony that it feels. And I don't wish it on anybody to know that kind of pain.” (Nidal, 12:40)

4. The Cemetery Journey: Impossible Burials and Grief

The Story of Hossein Khaledauda

• Personal Tragedy: Former professional bodybuilder Hossein describes losing nearly his entire family—his children, siblings, and mother—across two devastating airstrikes.
• Desperate Acts: After the ceasefire, he journeys to retrieve the remains of his son Yusuf from a temporary grave, carrying the boy’s body back north to bury with his dead siblings.
• Unbearable Choices: “Just imagine carrying your children in bags from one place to the next,” he recounts the miles walking to Jabalia to lay them to rest.
  (Hossein, 35:20)
• No Reason for Destruction: Hossein, not political, says his family was killed “indiscriminately”—the Israeli military provided no explanation for the strikes.
• The End of Hope: After losing his children and seeing his wife gravely injured, he rejects any thought of returning or rebuilding: “At this point, we're dead people walking around. I mean, I wonder if dead people are actually living better than us. This whole place, it took too much for me. I don't want anything to do with it anymore.”
  (Hossein, 38:40)

Memorable Moments:

• On Burying His Children:
  "It was a great relief... the smallest thing I could do at least, was to dignify them and bury them. And I know I didn't do 100%, but at least I'm happy to know they are buried in their graves." (Hossein, 36:45)
• On Survival:
  “We slept in the same tent every day and in the same room... it was just minutes that we were separated and that's what hurts me the most.” (Hossein, 39:20)

5. Scale of the Humanitarian Disaster

• Statistics:
  • 90% of Gazans have been displaced
  • 4/5 of buildings damaged or destroyed
  • 68,000 killed (18,000 children), 9,000 missing and presumed dead under debris (Rachel Abrams, 40:44)
• UN Official Estimates: Hundreds of thousands have journeyed home through fields of rubble. Tents sprout where homes once stood; families sweep debris, attempting to reclaim fragments of former lives.
• Resumption of Violence: Just days after the ceasefire, renewed strikes kill at least 100, highlighting the fragility of peace and the persistent insecurity.

Notable Quotes & Speaker Attribution

| Time | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|-------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 03:48 | Sahir (Photographer)| "I saw these children finally feel this little moment of joy..." | | 08:14 | Sahir | “Now they're saying, 'please take my photo.' ... because they are going back to their homes.” | | 12:40 | Nidal | “To lose a home, I don't have words for the kind of agony that it feels…” | | 15:40 | Sahir | "I got there and I didn't recognize anything at all... it was really like a loss of identity.” | | 35:20 | Hossein | “Just imagine carrying your children in bags from one place to the next…” | | 38:40 | Hossein | “At this point, we're dead people walking around... this whole place, it took too much for me.” |

Timestamps of Key Segments

• 00:39–02:49 — Introduction, context, and the first accounts of people heading home
• 03:48–08:09 — Return journeys: the road north, spirits lifting, altered personalities
• 08:14–13:30 — Nidal’s memories of home and longing to rebuild
• 15:40–18:40 — Sahir’s shock at his destroyed neighborhood and feelings of loss
• 20:34–39:30 — Hossein Khaledauda’s journey to recover and bury his children, breakdown of daily life before and after war
• 40:44–42:17 — UN statistics, the continuing scale of devastation, renewed violence

Tone & Style

The episode is both factual and deeply empathetic, with reporting that foregrounds Gazan voices, using direct testimony to convey a sense of loss, survival, and small, flickering hope. The tone is respectful, mournful, and determined to document the realities experienced by civilians caught in conflict.

This summary captures the heart of the episode: the attempts of ordinary people to make meaning, recover dignity, and reclaim fragments of home in a shattered landscape.