Crowds of displaced Palestinians made the arduous journey back to heavily destroyed northern Gaza for a second day Tuesday, under a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Monzer al-Sharafi survived months in a tent with his family in southern Gaza. CBS News joined him for the grueling trek back to find what was left of his life.

Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians began returning home to northern Gaza on Monday, bracing for what awaits them in a region that has been reduced to rubble by months of brutal bombardment and fighting.

Scrambling over sand banks and craters, hundreds of thousands of Palestinian families describe the long trek back home to Nedal Hamdouna inside Gaza and Bel Trew

Many residents of northern Gaza and southern Lebanon are expected to return to their homes in the coming days and weeks, with most of the fighting in both areas paused under Israeli ceasefire agreements with both Hamas and Hezbollah.

Israel has begun allowing Palestinians to return to the heavily destroyed north of the Gaza Strip for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas, in accordance with a fragile ceasefire.