Al Jazeera correspondent Hesham Alzaqout has visited the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza where he spoke to a number of Palestinians who used the pause in fighting to return to their neighbourhoods — only to find utter destruction.

“Our home is destroyed, nothing remains standing. And most of the ducks and chickens were eaten by hungry street dogs,” an elderly woman said.

“This is not a war; it is a genocide,” she added. “It’s unprecedented crimes.”

Alzaqout said many residents of the Bureij refugee camp were forced to head to Nuseirat refugee camp, further west, due to intense uninterrupted shelling, the news outlet reports.

Upon returning, they found their homes levelled to the ground and some of the dead buried under the debris. The elderly woman said she used to “come every now and then, despite the ruthless shelling”.

She continued: “It was very dangerous, but I have to come and check on my chicken livestock. I am not afraid. If I am destined to be killed, I will die. My life is not in the hands of the Zionists.”