Happy but uncertain, displaced Palestinians try to head for Gaza

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza, Nov 24 (Reuters/AFP): Many joyful but wary Palestinians emerged from makeshift shelters at the start of the four-day Gaza ceasefire on Friday to begin the long journey back to their homes.
In the southern town of Khan Younis, which has been housing thousands of displaced families including from heavily bombarded northern Gaza, streets were packed with people on the move.
Hundreds were heading towards the north, despite Israel dropping leaflets warning them not to go back to an area it described as still being a dangerous war zone.
Men, women and children carried their belongings in plastic bags, shopping bags and rucksacks. One family sat on the back of cart piled high with bags and pulled by a donkey.
Some people looked up to the sky as if to check they were not in danger of attack from Israeli warplanes.
"I am now very happy, I feel at ease," said Ahmad Wael, trudging along with a large mattress on his head.
"I am going back to my home, our hearts are rested, especially that there is a four-day official ceasefire, better than returning to live in tents. I am very tired from sitting there, without any food or water. There (at home) we can live, we drink tea, make bread using fire, and the oven."
The United Nations says around two-thirds of Gaza's 2.3 million residents are homeless, including most of the population of Gaza City and the rest of the northern half of the enclave, reduced to a wasteland by Israel's assault.
Khan Younis, the main city in the south, has also not proved safe. Many of its buildings are now in rubble, destroyed by Israeli strikes in its campaign in response to the deadly Hamas attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7.
"Honestly it is a nice feeling for one to be able to go back home after all this time, to see their families and loved ones, but we are still hesitant and afraid," said Souad Abou Nasirat, a Khan Younis resident.
"A four-day truce is not enough, those (in the north) of Gaza, may God give them patience. We're worried about them."
Meanwhile, Gaza's Hamas government said Thursday the death toll in the Palestinian territory had reached 14,854 since war began on October 7 between Israeli forces and Hamas militants.
The Hamas government said 6,150 children and 4,000 women were among the dead, with another 36,000 people wounded. Its health ministry has previously said it can no longer give exact tolls as intense fighting has prevented bodies from being recovered.
Boycott campaigns over Gaza war hit Western brands in some Arab countries
On a recent evening in Cairo, a worker cleaned tables in an empty McDonald's restaurant. Branches of other Western fast-food chains in the Egyptian capital also appeared deserted.
All have been hit by a largely spontaneous, grassroots boycott campaign over Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip since the deadly Hamas attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7.
Western brands are feeling the impact in Egypt and Jordan, and there are signs the campaign is spreading in some other Arab countries including Kuwait and Morocco. Participation has been uneven with only minor effects seen in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Egypt's Sisi calls for recognition of Palestinian state
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Friday appeared to discredit the moribund Israel-Palestinian peace process and instead called on the international community to recognise the Palestinian state.
During a joint news conference with the prime ministers of Spain and Belgium in Cairo, Sisi said reviving the process aimed at ending the Israel-Palestinian conflict "may not be what is required".