A month into the fragile ceasefire in Gaza, a small sense of normalcy has returned in some areas as markets reopen, kids return to school and a handful of restaurants take customers again after two years of war.
But the devastation across the strip is immense, and other parts of Gaza remain under Israeli military control, leaving hundreds of thousands of Palestinians stuck in limbo and unable to return to their homes.
The divide is fuelling concerns across the community that two distinct Gazas could be created — neither suitable for the population to live in.
Separating the Israeli-controlled Gaza, more than 51 per cent of the strip, from what has been vacated under the US-brokered deal is a line of large yellow blocks, placed there by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to deter the Palestinian population from entering.
The prospect of peace is something many Palestinians are struggling to comprehend, given Israel continues to launch strikes across the strip in response to claimed violations of the truce by Hamas.
And with no clear timeline for when the IDF will continue withdrawing from the strip, some fear they will never be able to pass the "Yellow Line".
'Forbidden' Gaza
US President Donald Trump's 20-point peace plan states that Israeli forces will continue their phased withdrawal and reconstruction of parts of Gaza will begin once key conditions are met, namely the return of all remaining hostages and the disarming of Hamas.
But the initial signed agreement does not provide many details beyond the first phase.
Among those unable to return home is Kamel Al Sheikh, 54. He left Shejaiya, on the eastern edge of Gaza City, soon after the war began in October 2023.
Shejaiya has been one of the hardest hit areas in recent months, as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched its campaign to take control and occupy Gaza City in the weeks before the ceasefire deal was struck.
When the ABC gained rare access to an IDF forward base overlooking Shejaiya last week, the destruction was hard to comprehend — a once vibrant community had been reduced to rubble, with few buildings left standing.
Mr Al Sheikh said he could not return to whatever was left of his home.
"It's forbidden, it's beyond the yellow line," he told the ABC.
"I did not try [to go there], but my brothers went and could not reach the site."
Concerns about future access to the areas beyond the line grow once the rhetoric of members of the Netanyahu government is considered.
"I know some Israeli leaders that believed that Gaza will become the Singapore of the Middle East," minister and former intelligence chief Avi Dichter said earlier this week at an event in Tel Aviv.
"I told them, 'I don't know about Singa — poor it's going to be.'"
'A red line you can't cross'
Israeli authorities have claimed Hamas militants have tried to cross the line multiple times, using the incursions as justification for opening fire on individuals the IDF argued posed a threat to its troops.
Palestinian authorities have argued some of those killed were civilians, including one incident more than a fortnight ago where almost a dozen members of the same family who were travelling in a bus were targeted. Among them were women and children.
There have been reports that Hamas fighters stuck inside the "Yellow Line" since the ceasefire — and likely blamed for deadly attacks on Israeli troops, triggering widespread air strikes in recent weeks — have been demanding safe passage to leave the area — something the Israeli Prime Minister's office has voiced objections to.
Few who have managed to enter the zone have survived to tell the tale.
"Beyond the yellow line, or to be more precise it is a red line that you can't cross, and therefore we cant go there," Nasser Al Najjar, 65, originally from Jabalia told the ABC.
"The other day I went just to look at my home, the army was above me and they began shooting at us, I was there for three minutes and left.
"My home was a 5-floor building, on 250 square meters — it's now rubble, it was hit by missiles."
Mr Al Najjar and his eight children are in a tent camp in the east of Deir Al Balah, in central Gaza, but are struggling to find shelter of their own.
"I would like to go back to the north, pitch a tent opposite my home, and live there," he said.
"But that is not possible for us to do at all."
Disarming Hamas a main hurdle
Last month, the IDF said areas such as Shejaiya in Gaza City and communities in the north of the strip could be among the potential first sites for reconstruction.
"There are some places that are completely clear from Hamas and we are conducting these discussions with our allies in order to create these places as the first places of the demonstration of how life could be here without Hamas, free from Hamas," a senior IDF official said.
"We also were started to develop the infrastructure of water and electricity in order to prepare the place for the coming events or stages of the ceasefire."
But without any timeline or indication from Israel's political leaders, Gaza's supporters in the Arab world and the United States, such commitments were vague.
They also relied on events such as the disarming of Hamas, something which has not yet happened, and remains uncertain.
The ABC asked Israel's agriculture minister Avi Dichter, a member of Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet and a former director of the intelligence agency Shin Bet, whether any reconstruction would actually occur and whether it could create two separate Gazas — one redeveloped for only select few, while the other is left to decay further.
"I can't believe that Gaza will be rebuilt the way that the Western countries and the Arab countries who are relevant for it think it should be, as long as Gaza Strip is dominated by Hamas directly or indirectly," he said.
"So rebuilding will begin, while [Hamas] are still equipped with military weapons? It's not going [to] happen."
Mr Dichter also threatened Hamas with further attacks if it tried to apply further pressure to Israel.
"If it will be needed, this ceasefire can be disappeared within minutes — and it happened just two weeks ago," he said.
"The war has not ended — it's a ceasefire in order to prepare ourselves for the next phase."
Divide could 'explode the ceasefire agreement'
Meanwhile, more than half the Gaza Strip remains under the control of Israel — inaccessible to Palestinians — and it's unclear when that will end.
Wissam Afifeh, a journalist in Gaza who has worked for Hamas-controlled media outlets, said Trump's peace plan had allowed the ongoing "partition" of the strip.
He believes it is an example of the US bowing to the demands of the Netanyahu government during negotiations.
"More than 51 per cent of the Gaza Strip is under the control of Israel, and that means that a large part of the population is suffering from displacement," he told the ABC.
"This also means that the ingredients to explode the ceasefire agreement are there.
"The yellow line satisfies the Israelis, it satisfies Netanyahu's goals but can also bring about the collapse of the whole Trump plan."
Afifeh has worked as editor-in-chief of the Al Resalah newspaper and chairman of Al Aqsa TV — both run by Hamas.
He said many Palestinians felt there was an attempt to create "two Gazas — one under auspices of the Israeli security and the other Gaza as a refugee zone to so-called 'terrorists.'"
"This at the end embodies an Israeli vision, of emptying of at least half of the Gaza population," he said.
