A long-awaited ceasefire in the war on Gaza began on Sunday at 11:15am Gaza time after a three-hour delay during which Hamas delivered the names of three Israeli female hostages who were released later in the afternoon.
The delayed ceasefire resulted in the deaths of 10 Palestinians in Israeli attacks, a spokesperson for Gaza’s civil defence said, with Hamas saying the delay was due to technical reasons.
Celebrations spread across different parts of the war-ravaged territory, and some Palestinians started returning home despite the risk.
The announcement of a ceasefire in a region long marked by conflict and humanitarian suffering has brought a glimmer of respite from the daily hardships of a war that has lasted for over a year.
Ceasefires in Gaza have historically been overshadowed by deeper political and humanitarian crises that have remained unresolved. Displaced Palestinians who have endured the hardships of the genocidal war waged by Israel on the Strip over the past 15 months met the announcement of the ceasefire with a mix of relief, fear, hope, and anguish.
Sobheya Hassan, 44, left her home in the Al-Zaytoun neighbourhood south east of Gaza City one year ago after the Israeli Army issued evacuation orders to residents. “I can’t describe how happy I am,” she said. “I have lived with my family for months in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza moving from one place to another. I never felt I belonged.”
“We have experienced constant fear from the bombings that never stopped. We didn’t know if we would survive for another second. Now I can return to Gaza in a week’s time. Gaza is in my blood. I can’t live outside Gaza. I am going to set up my tent on the rubble of my destroyed home. It will revive hearts that have hardened as they awaited a peace that was absent for 470 days,” Sobheya said.
Her 24-year-old daughter Taghreed told Al-Ahram Weekly in a telephone interview that the scars of the war will remain, her voice filled with bitterness. “However, being able to return back home, meet family, and stay where we belong has paid off. I don’t know how to put into words the joy we feel. But time is moving slowly. I can’t wait to pack up my stuff and head back to Gaza, even if we have to go on foot,” she said.
The ceasefire deal reached between Hamas and Israel consists of three phases. In the first phase, Hamas will release 33 Israeli hostages in return for the release of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, primarily women and minors. This will take place over a period of 42 days, with the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from specific populated locations and routes in Gaza.
Further exchanges are planned in the second and third phases, with Hamas expected to release additional hostages in return for the release of more Palestinian prisoners. The third phase is scheduled to end with the reaching of an agreement over initiating reconstruction projects in the war-battered territory and a decision on who will rule the Strip on the next day of the war.
While some Palestinians in Gaza greeted the ceasefire with hope and cautious optimism, others have remained burdened by the overwhelming weight of loss and uncertainty.
Mona Kadoum, 44, the mother of five, could not hide her grief. “There were Israeli tanks close to my father-in-law’s house where I moved with my family thinking it was safer. It wasn’t safe at all, and I couldn’t go further south. I saw people dying all around me. We lived through a succession of black nights. We experienced all kinds of Israeli weapons firing at us. We starved. We remained thirsty for days on end. I can hardly believe I am still alive,” she said.
Mona could not express her feelings, which were a mix of grief, surprise, shock, and hope that the ceasefire would bring succour to the people of Gaza. “I pity the displaced people who will return to Gaza City from the south. They will definitely be shocked, as seeing their destroyed homes is different from hearing about it. But thankfully the ceasefire has given us hope that the bloodshed will stop, even temporarily,” she added.
Asked about the first thing she plans to do after one week of the ceasefire, Mona said that she wants to go out without fear from airstrikes. “I look terrible. I can hardly recognise myself when I look in the mirror. I want to get clean. I want to do my hair. I want to take a shower without being scared. I want to walk in the streets without being worried about bombardments, drones, warplanes, or quadcopters,” she said.
The stories of scores of Palestinians are marked by pain, grief, and unanswered questions about what could be coming next. Sami Al-Dajani, 55, said that he has been waiting for the ceasefire for so long that he has not been able to search for the bodies of his brother and his family who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Jabalia in northern Gaza a couple of months ago.
“The ceasefire will save the remaining population from certain death. Now is better than never. The first thing I will do as soon as I go back to Gaza is search for the body of my brother. I can’t describe how I feel. I want to bury him, his wife, and his four children in a respectful way. This is the least I can do. I pray to God that their bodies have not been eaten by stray dogs,” he said.
On the other hand, his sister Rawya said that she can’t enjoy the joy of the announcement of the ceasefire as she will have to go back to Gaza without her children who were struck and killed by Israeli bombs and buried in the south.
“I can’t imagine that I will have to leave them there, even though they are buried,” Rawya said.
Scores of Palestinians left their shelters as the ceasefire began, only to be met with the reality of sorrow and loss as they uncovered the bodies of their loved ones beneath the rubble.
A footage of a grieving mother who lost her only son in an Israeli airstrike a couple of months ago went viral. Um Hassan returned to her devastated home in Rafah in search of the body of her son under rubble. The grieving mother dug through the rubble and eventually cradled his skull. “Please collect his body remains… I arrived my son, my dear son”, she said amongst a group of relatives who were trying to comfort her.
The Israeli war on Gaza has destroyed many Palestinian families inside and outside the Gaza Strip. Nisreen Al-Rifi was one among hundreds of Palestinians who departed for Gaza for medical treatment in Egypt before 7 October 2023. “I have been trapped in Cairo for 15 months now, and I couldn’t return to Gaza because of the war and the closure of the Rafah Crossing,” Nisreen said.
“I am very happy about the reaching of a ceasefire. But these are decisive hours, and my heart has been beating anxiously, fearing failure. I have been trapped in Cairo alone without my husband and children. I think about them all the time, and I follow the news night and day. God willing, the Rafah Crossing will open soon for the return of people who are stranded,” she added.
In an attempt to facilitate the return of displaced Palestinians from the southern governorates of the Strip to the north, the Gaza Municipality has opened several streets and major intersections that were previously closed, while police forces deployed across the Gaza governorates as the ceasefire deal went into effect on Sunday morning.
The Israeli military offensive in Gaza has caused the deaths of 46,913 Palestinians including 18,000 children since 7 October 2023. However, many international rights groups say that the real number of Palestinians killed in the Israeli war is far higher. Such huge losses of life underscore the dire humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip as a result of the Israeli blockade and the widespread displacement of people.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 23 January, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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