Thousands of Palestinians have begun returning from southern Gaza to Gaza City, weeks after fleeing the Israeli offensive that turned much of the city into rubble.

Footage showed large numbers walking north up damaged narrow coastal roads towards the collapsed towers and ruined buildings of the territory’s biggest city.

The returnees, many travelling on foot for more than 20km, carried what remained of their belongings on their backs. Those who could afford it paid high prices to hire donkey carts or small trucks to make the arduous journey north.

Some waved Palestinian flags and flashed victory signs. But the prevailing mood was one of exhaustion. Many appeared weak and malnourished after months of displacement, hunger and fear.

“The road is long and difficult, there’s no food or water,” says Alaa Saleh, a schoolteacher who fled Gaza City with his wife and six children to Khan Younis.

“I left my family behind and started walking north. Thousands around me are struggling. Hiring a car costs around 4,000 shekels (£924; $1,227), far beyond what most people can afford.”

Those returning say they are driven by desperation rather than confidence that it is safe. Many have already been told that their homes no longer exist.

Around 700,000 people from Gaza City and the north were displaced by the Israeli offensive, which saw intense aerial bombardment and the entry of troops into some neighbourhoods. The Israeli military described Gaza City as Hamas’s “last stronghold”.

After they pulled back under the terms of the ceasefire and hostage release deal agreed between Israel and Hamas and approved by the Israeli government, residents in northern and western Gaza City were left stunned at the unprecedented devastation left behind.

For the first time in weeks, people entered the Sheikh Radwan, Karama and Beach Camp areas and found entire residential blocks flattened, hundreds of homes destroyed and much of the areas’ infrastructure wiped out.

Dozens of videos on social media show residents walking through the rubble, filming what remains of their neighbourhoods. In one clip, a man says: “This is the last area we can reach. The Israeli army is still nearby. Look at the scale of destruction, they’ve destroyed everything.”

Other videos show circulating show similar destruction in the Sabra and Zeitoun neighbourhoods to the south and east, where entire apartment blocks have been levelled.

As some filmed the ruins, others rushed to help Hamas’s Gaza Civil Defense teams recover bodies from beneath the debris. Spokesman Mahmoud Basal told the BBC that eight bodies were pulled out from northern Gaza on Friday morning, as rescue teams continue searching “with very limited means” in other areas.