About 1,000 Palestinians who were stranded outside the Gaza Strip when conflict broke out between Israel and Hamas have returned home during the seven-day truce, braving the prospect of renewed bombardment, a Palestinian border official has said, Reuters reports.

At the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza, yellow taxis with suitcases and cardboard boxes piled high on their roofs and trunks so full of luggage they could not be closed were carrying Palestinians back into their ravaged homeland.

One of them was Abu Nader, who said he had travelled to Turkey on Oct. 4 to accompany one of his daughters who was starting her studies there. The conflict began three days later, when Hamas attacked southern Israel.

Abu Nader flew to Egypt on Oct. 24 but could not return to Gaza as the Rafah crossing was closed. He found himself stuck in Egypt until the truce.

He said his house in the al-Nasser neighbourhood in Gaza City had been destroyed by an Israeli strike and he had lost relatives, but was nevertheless desperate to get home to be with his other children and the rest of his family.

“No one leaves their children or their country, even if they lose their house. All Palestine is my home, not just Gaza or the house in al-Nasser, the whole nation is my home,” he said.