Tue 4-February-2025

With the announcement of the ceasefire: Mixed emotions and hope for a return to normal life

Friday 17-January-2025

GAZA, (PIC)

In the first moments of the ceasefire agreement announcement, the mother of Tarek Abu Al-Ata broke down in tears, mourning her eldest son Tarek and his family, who were assassinated by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) in cold-blood on March 1st, 2024. Abu Al-Ata told our reporter that in those moments, she remembered her eldest son and his beautiful children, who were killed by the occupation. However, she emphasizes that these are decisive moments as they stop the bleeding that has lasted for 15 months.

The mother returned to crying, indicating that she hoped for the survival of her son’s family during these moments, adding that her son and his family sacrificed themselves for Palestine and that all her children are sacrifices for the occupied homeland.

As soon as the announcement of the ceasefire agreement, made on Wednesday evening, became public, the streets of war-torn Gaza were filled with jubilant people celebrating the closure of this painful chapter, with chants, songs, and Palestinian folklore sung joyfully by Gazans.

Meanwhile, Mahmoud Abu Huyshel felt mixed emotions, as the occupation army had destroyed his home and his brothers’ homes. He said, “The aggression will stop, the blood will cease, but the suffering will not end—the siege, the destroyed homes, and the painful reality.” Mahmoud added that his feelings were mixed between joy at the end of the war and the halt of extermination, and sadness at the separation from loved ones, the destruction of homes, and all the horrors that the Palestinian people have endured.

He continued, speaking patiently and with resilience, “None of this will be in vain; Palestine deserves all our sacrifices,” expressing his happiness that he is now just days away from his home in the al-Shati camp in Gaza City, even if it is destroyed.

He confirms that the brutal Israeli destruction and killing throughout the days of the extermination war will not weaken the Palestinians, who embrace the most sacred cause in history. In the shelters for the displaced, estimated at around two million Palestinians who have been displaced by the Israeli war machine, there were calls and wishes for the agreement to be final and sustainable. It took only a few minutes for the displaced people in those shelters, distributed across the various parts of the destroyed Gaza Strip, to start talking about returning to their homes and how to rebuild their lives amid the destruction left by the occupation’s aggression, not only in their possessions and living spaces.

Smiles were evident on the faces of children who witnessed a war unlike any other, a war that led to the martyrdom, loss, and injury of more than 166,000 Palestinians, about 72% of whom were children and women.

Abdul Karim Baris’s eyes glistened at the announcement of the ceasefire, confirming that he is waiting for the release of his son, who has been detained for a year, as the occupation arrested him during the large-scale invasion of Khan Yunis. Since the start of its ground operation in Gaza on October 27, 2023, the IOF has arrested thousands of Palestinians, including women, children, and health and civil defense workers, and released only a small number later, while the fate of others remains unknown.

Human rights organizations and Israeli media have revealed that Palestinian detainees from Gaza have been subjected to torture and medical neglect, leading to the deaths of many in Israeli detention centers. Baris said, “My feelings are mixed; we have lost homes and loved ones, and my eldest son is a prisoner in the occupation’s prisons. We do not know whether to rejoice or mourn.”

Similarly, Abir Murad expressed her mixed feelings between joy and tears, as she cried intensely for her brothers and uncles who perished in the midst of extermination. She stated that the ceasefire gives Gazans a chance to mourn deeply for what they have lost and for what has happened to them during the brutal extermination.

Residents of the Gaza Strip are awaiting the ceasefire to take effect after an Israeli war that lasted 16 months, during which the IOF destroyed various aspects of life, economic, social, and infrastructure, and exacerbated hunger, poverty, and unemployment. Throughout the war of extermination, the IOF systematically and unprecedentedly destroyed infrastructure, homes, hospitals, and institutions, in addition to killing and injuring over 155,000 Palestinians, deepening the Gazans’ sense of pain and tragedy that has been described by UN reports as the most severe in contemporary history.

Cameras captured tears of joy that many could not hold back, mixed with a profound hope to return to “life”. There were many poignant scenes depicting families crying tears of joy, embracing each other due to the psychological tension they had faced since the first day of the war that devastated Gaza and besieged its people to the point of facing famine.

The discussion of the “next day” does not seem limited to politicians alone; Palestinian citizens throughout the devastated Gaza Strip have been planning since the first moments of the ceasefire announcement for this “next day”—how to return to their areas and homes, if they are still standing or even if they are damaged. This indicates a strong desire and certain readiness to regain their lives that the occupation has deprived them of since October 2023.

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