SHOTLIST:

GAZA, PALESTINE (OCTOBER 17, 2025) (ANADOLU - ACCESS ALL)

1. VARIOUS OF WIDESPREAD DESTRUCTION IN KHAN YOUNIS / PALESTINIANS RETURNING TO THEIR DESTROYED HOMES, CLEARING DEBRIS

2. MAJIDA AL-YAKOUBI RETURNING TO HER DESTROYED HOME, SPEAKING TO REPORTER AMID RUBBLE

3. WIDESHOTS OF DESTRUCTION IN KHAN YOUNIS
GAZA, PALESTINE - OCTOBER 17, 2025: After the ceasefire in Gaza, Majida al-Yakoubi, a 40-year-old woman of Moroccan origin, returned to what was once her home in the southern city of Khan Younis, only to find it reduced to rubble. Describing the devastation before her eyes, she said, “In the age of technology, they turned us back a million years. Even people of the Stone Age never saw what we have seen.”

The first phase of a ceasefire agreement, brokered under US President Donald Trump’s plan, came into effect on Oct. 10. As Israeli forces withdrew to what they call the “Yellow Line” area, Palestinians began returning to their neighborhoods, finding nothing left but the ruins of their homes. The “Yellow Line” is an unofficial demarcation separating areas where Israeli forces remain stationed from areas where Palestinians are allowed to move within the Gaza Strip.

Though the bloodshed has halted for now, Palestinians’ suffering continues amid the wreckage of Gaza, where entire neighborhoods have been flattened.

Al-Yakoubi and her family are among those enduring this harsh reality. Wandering through the remains of her home in the Al-Katiba area of Khan Younis, she searched desperately for any sign of life. “How are we supposed to live among this rubble?” she asked, her voice filled with despair.

Originally from Morocco, al-Yakoubi moved to Gaza in 2007 after marrying a Palestinian man. She has since lived through every major Israeli assault on the besieged enclave. During the Israeli genocide that began in October 2023, she attempted to leave Gaza to reunite with her family in France. She even hired a lawyer to assist with the family reunification process, but the $6,000 demanded for border passage was far beyond her reach.

Despite the ceasefire and the Israeli army’s withdrawal, al-Yakoubi said the real struggle has only just begun.

“When I came here, it felt like witnessing the end of the world,” she said. “We looked around to see what we could repair, if there was any way to cling to life, but there is none. How are we supposed to live among these piles of rubble? The roof has collapsed, the walls are gone. Even if you want to drink a bottle of water, where would you find it?”

“We prayed for the war to end and for everyone to return home,” she continued. “But when we came back, we realized there was nothing left to rebuild. The whole of Gaza lies in ruins. We need a deep, swift solution, because if this destruction remains, our minds and spirits will collapse with it.”

Al-Yakoubi said the two-year-long Israeli genocide in Gaza subjected residents to extreme violence and starvation.

“They stripped us of our humanity,” she said. “The violence we experienced was so extreme that it wouldn’t even be inflicted on an animal. In the age of technology, progress, and artificial intelligence, they pushed us a million years backward. Even Stone Age people didn’t witness what we have.”

She described the hunger Gazans endured during the war:

“I had never known hunger before this war. I ate bread made from flour infested with worms, just to stay alive. We ate rice full of insects and expired canned food. We suffered skin diseases and constant intestinal infections. We divided a single small loaf of bread into six pieces.”