This has been the struggle for displaced Palestinians returning to their homes in Gaza under the nearly month-old ceasefire: To re-create some bit of normal lives amid the death and destruction left by 16 months of Israeli bombardment and ground offensives against Hamas fighters.

Rooms look like fragmented movie sets, with furniture arranged in any intact corner, while the remaining walls are shattered. The Nassars fled their home in Jabaliya refugee camp last year, moving around northern Gaza.

Hundreds of Palestinians have begun to return to northern Gaza amid the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. In Jabalya, families have improvised shelters among the rubble of destroyed buildings. Camera: MOHAMMED SABER.