As the long-awaited ceasefire in Gaza was announced on Wednesday, displaced Palestinians celebrated and expressed both relief and fear while hoping that the agreement would hold.
Shourouk Shahine, a Palestinian journalist in Deir al-Balah, told Middle East Eye that she feels “a very conflicted feeling, very mixed emotions, we are holding our breath”.
“There were many rounds of negotiations that used to take place before being ruined by conditions from the [negotiating] sides, and we would fall into despair after feeling hopeful,” she said.
“This time, however, we feel like there was seriousness in the negotiations and noticed international pressure on all sides. Therefore, we are potentially heading towards a ceasefire.”
The ceasefire, which will be implemented in three phases starting on 19 January, will see countless displaced Palestinians return to their cities and towns.
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on
Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
It is also expected to bring much-needed humanitarian aid and allow injured Palestinians to receive treatment abroad.
“We are excited to be able to breathe normally, excited to sleep without the sound of warplanes, without bombings and strikes,” Shahine said.
“I, as a journalist, am excited for a morning inside a hospital without the images of martyrs, without any moment of goodbyes, separations among the relatives of martyrs, and without the pain of the injured who were hit by Israel’s air strikes on Gaza.”
Shahine comes from the northern town of Jabalia, one of the most heavily attacked areas in the besieged Palestinian enclave.
Even though her home was bombed and bulldozed, Shahine says she may finally be able to offer condolences to her relatives who lost loved ones and see her neighbours again.
“We are excited to meet up with the rest of my family who refused to leave during the war,” she said.
‘Life will start again’
Israel’s war on Gaza killed over 46,000 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian health ministry. But experts believe the death toll is significantly higher, as Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s health sector made it difficult for authorities to keep track of everyone that was killed, and many bodies are believed to still be under the rubble.
Ahead of the announcement, Wael, who only gave his first name, left the southern city of Rafah for Deir al-Balah. He hopes to see life resume across Gaza.
“Today, once the ceasefire is officially announced and applied in Gaza, life will start again despite the difficulty, the loss of the martyrs, the loved ones, the friends, the relatives, the injured,” he told MEE.
Gaza ceasefire deal reached
Read More »
“We lost our friends, our loved ones. My brother lost his legs, and my daughter, a young girl, was hit in the eye.”
Despite this, Wael is optimistic for his people’s future.
“As a Palestinian people who have been occupied for over 70 years, we got used to these killings and sacrifices, and we got used to coming back, to rising up despite the killings and the losses,” he said.
“After all these sacrifices, our people will stand on their feet again and shape their lives again – until the occupation’s demise.”
Wael’s feeling was echoed by Ahmad al-Mohsen in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, who also hopes to return to his native Rafah.
“Whether my home is destroyed or not, what matters is that one comes back, far from the war. There is no place like home,” Mohsen said.
‘It will take a lot of time’
While many in Gaza are celebrating the ceasefire, Shahine says she cannot.
“The people of Gaza are an emotional people,” she said. “Maybe some people will celebrate the ceasefire, but personally, I will not, out of respect for the martyrs.”
Shahine says a ceasefire is the right of the Palestinian people and that it was every country’s “duty” to pressure Israel into an agreement.
“But, unfortunately, they supported Israel with all kinds of weapons that were thrown at us and were the reason behind our killing and our genocide. Our only celebration will be our return to the north, to our families.”
Wael harbours a simple wish: a return to normalcy.
“Our hope is to return to normal life,” Wael said. “For our children to go back to school, for our hospitals to start operating again, for our people to be able to move around and travel, for our injured to get treatment.”
“Hopefully, this is the start of our entire land’s liberation.”
To Mohsen, the Gaza Strip will return “more beautiful than before, but it will take a lot of time”.
The first group of Israeli captives are expected to return in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, and mediators hope the 42-day-long first phase is successful in making the ceasefire a permanent one.
“We do not want the war to come back,” Mohsen said. “We lost a lot. We went through a lot of pain. We have not been feeling alive for a year and a half.”
However, he feels pride in his territory’s steadfastness throughout the war.
“Gaza will remain a name for the entire world. A name of change. A name for anything related to struggle and to resistance in particular.”
