For nearly 16 months, hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have lived in tents, barred from returning to northern Gaza. On Monday, Israel allowed them to walk back.

A mass of people, some holding infants in their arms or carrying bundles of belongings on their shoulders, headed north on foot.

The move brokered by Qatar and Egyptian mediators would allow around 650,000 Palestinians in central and southern Gaza Strip to return to homes in the north of the enclave, most o