Gaza family is first to return to rebuilt home after 2014 war

The al-Zazas have much to celebrate these days, after returning a few weeks ago to their neighborhood in the Gaza Strip -- the first Palestinian family to move back into a completely rebuilt home since last year's Israeli imposed war.

It was a much-anticipated homecoming. Their house was one of thousands of dwellings that were reduced to rubble in the war.

A push to reconstruct the Gaza Strip has been sluggish, relying on international funding pledges that have only partially been fulfilled.

But the al-Zazas' move offers a rare glimmer of hope to the tens of thousands of Gazans who lost their homes in the war.

The family's place in Gaza City's Shaaf neighborhood, one of the hardest-hit in the war, was among the first 170 completely destroyed homes that were approved for reconstruction under a UN mechanism.

"We are very happy . . . it's our home," 50-year-old Atef al-Zaza, the family patriarch, told The Associated Press in his barely furnished new living room.

"Our life is getting back to its pre-war normality."

About half a million people were displaced at the height of the 50-day conflict and 100,000 were left homeless, according to the United Nations.

Israeli airstrikes and shelling flattened entire areas, leaving piles of concrete and debris.

More than 2,200 Palestinians were killed, the majority of them civilians, according to UN figures.