As the ceasefire enters its seventh day, Palestinians living in Gaza are coming to terms with the aftermath of 15 months of death and destruction.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza put the death toll from Israeli attacks at 47,283 this week, with numbers rising after the ceasefire as further bodies were found under the rubble.
Two-thirds of Gaza's pre-war structures have been flattened or damaged while a UN damage assessment stated that clearing over 50 million tonnes of rubble left in the aftermath of Israeli bombardment could take 21 years and cost up to $1.2 billion.
Despite this, the ceasefire has allowed many in Gaza to walk the streets in peace and sleep without fear.
With Gaza in ruins and the ceasefire providing a semblance of security on the ground, young Palestinians living in the territory are cautiously looking to the future.
Here, four young Palestinians whose lives have been upended, talk about the early stages of life in Gaza following the 19 January ceasefire.
"For a long time we were hoping to sleep without a drone, we were hoping to walk in the street peacefully, without bombing and destruction."
Nour al-Ain al-Shana is a 19-year-old Palestinian student from Gaza.
She has been displaced more than five times during the Israeli bombardment of Gaza over the past 15 months and has currently found refuge at a United Nations Relief and Works Agency school in Khan Younis.
Like many young people in Gaza, she is hoping that the ceasefire will allow her to live the normal life she had wished to live before the destruction began.
"I was a university student. I still have big worry, how I will complete my education, because there is no university in Gaza - there is no education," Ms al-Shana said.
All universities in Gaza have been destroyed by Israeli attacks since 7 October 2023, according to Palestinian news outlet Wafa.
The UN says 95% of all schools have been damaged or destroyed in the region.
While she described the ceasefire as a "really beautiful moment", Ms al-Shana is uncertain of what the future holds for her in terms of education.
"I wonder, how I will complete my education...I want to be a girl like other girls around the world, I want to take my education in this place, without being bombed."
The ceasefire has allowed Ms al-Shana to feel a sense of security on the streets of Khan Younis, something she has not felt since the beginning of the Israeli attacks on Gaza.
"Finally, I will feel happiness and I will walk in peace - like right now I am standing in the street, and I don't feel afraid to walk there."
'All of this is going to end'
While it is unclear how long the truce may hold, the ceasefire has allowed many young Palestinians to look to the future.
Hussam al-Sherif is a 19-year-old Palestinian who has been living in Khan Younis since he was displaced from Rafah.
He described how his life has gone from waking up to go to university to now waking up in search of water and the necessities for life.
"We stand for more than five, six or even seven hours to get one kilo of sugar or rice or even sometimes two litres of water.
He said this shows how "miserable" their lives have become during this war.
"And you still ask me, why I am so happy about the ceasefire?
"Because all of this is going to end.
"That's why I am so happy," he said.
Mr al-Sherif (watch in video above) is hopeful that the ceasefire can hold.
"It's all challenging and it's a very hard life. But it's okay because we are the Palestinians.
"We know how to handle these things, because we've been through this several times.
"It's not the first time and we hope it will be the last one."
As he walked past flattened buildings, rubble and widespread destruction, Mr al-Sherif described how the area he was standing in was once a much sought-after area of the city.
"People used to label it plugg (slang for trendy).
"This place used to be one of the most beautiful places here in Khan Younis city.
"It is, as you can see, it is full of schools, stadiums, clubs.
"And unfortunately, in this place, there used to be homes and houses.
"But as you can see, most of them were demolished."
Palestinians return to damaged homes
The levels of destruction seen in Gaza are far beyond anything seen following previous bombardments.
A UN report estimates it could take until at least 2040 to rebuild Gaza’s destroyed buildings.
Over 170,000 of Gaza’s structures have been damaged or completely destroyed by Israeli strikes, according to UN satellite data.
It identified over 60,000 destroyed structures, 20,000 severely damaged structures, 56,000 moderately damaged structures, and 34,000 possibly damaged structures.
Twenty-eight-year-old Noha Abed has returned with her husband and three children to the family's home in the southern city of Rafah, which now has only one livable room.
"Our house was beautiful, a one-storey building with three rooms. We lost everything," she said.
But after cleaning it and putting their belongings in what is left of the house, Ms Abed said the family "want to live in it until the rebuilding happens".
For now, her focus is on securing "food, water, electricity, beddings and blankets" for her family, who had been sleeping in a tent further north for about ten months.
Despite the difficult conditions, she said that this was "the first night I sleep without being afraid for my children".
"The most important thing is that the war does not resume," Ms Abed said.
Young Palestinians determined to stay and rebuild
More than a million people, or 47% of Gaza’s population, are under the age of 18, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.
The organisation projects that the population of Gaza has fallen by 6% in the past 15 months with about 100,000 Palestinians leaving the enclave and nearly 60,000 presumed dead.
Gaza health authorities say at least 47,000 people have been killed by Israeli strikes while the bureau estimates a further 11,000 people are missing.
Those that remain are cautiously beginning to think about rebuilding.
Shayma Abualatta, a 21-year-old Palestinian who is studying computer science and computer engineering, is determined to live her life in Gaza.
"I want to stay in my country, to stay where I am, to stay with my relatives and the people I love," she said.
Ms Abualatta said the only way she could exercise some control over her life was to keep studying.
But for the first three months of the war, she could not even bring herself to open her laptop.
The first time she did, she cried.
"I felt like it was such a blessing to have the opportunity to achieve something."
Ms Abualatta said there must be a focus on clearing rubble and restoring basic services to Gaza.
"We just need to clear the rubble and set up tents over them," she said.
"We will start off the with tents and develop them slowly."
She is deeply concerned about electricity supply.
Every day she walks from the tent where she now lives to a local charging point where she can get online.
With peace, she hopes more solar panels can be brought into the territory.
Ms Abualatta is keenly aware of the size of the task that faces Palestinians in Gaza as they seek to rebuild.
"We need the border crossings to open without restrictions," she added.
"We need everything."
Additional reporting AFP/Reuters
