ALongReturn

A Long Return is a short film juxtaposing two videos along the same section of Salah al-Din Road, a main thoroughfare connecting north and south Gaza. Taken five years apart, in January 2020 and January 2025, the footage is synchronised to illustrate the full impact of the war in Gaza.

Three civilian testimonies narrate the footage, detailing the emotional and physical toll of evacuating south, the arduous journey back to the north and the devastation of witnessing their homes in ruins.

On January 19th 2025, the Gaza ceasefire agreement came into effect with the aim of ending the 15 month war. Despite multiple ‘violations’, a preliminary step of this three-stage deal includes the return of Palestinian civilians to their homes in northern Gaza.

In October 2023, Salah al-Din Road was designated by the Israel Defense Forces as one of two evacuation routes when over a million civilians were ordered to vacate the north. Now, the same road is being used by hundreds of thousands of civilians to return home, with many mirroring the route taken when evacuating more than a year earlier. But, as the testimonies capture, the war has rendered ‘home’ unrecognisable.