🔗 Share this article

Throughout Thursday morning, people witnessed minimal celebration across the Gaza Strip. Word of the approaching truce had traveled swiftly over the battered land in the dark hours, marked by occasional shots aimed at the clouds as a form of jubilation, yet with the arrival of dawn the atmosphere turned to nervous expectation.

“People remain frightened,” remarked a female resident in al-Mawasi, the squalid, overcrowded coastal strip where much of the population have taken refuge under temporary shelters and plastic shacks.

“We look forward to an official announcement and real guarantees to reopen the border passages, allowing food deliveries, and stopping the killing, devastation and population transfers.”

Close by, an elderly resident Abbas Hassouna explained that his household were “waiting for a formal proclamation and dependable pledges for border access, ensuring food arrives, and ceasing the slaughter, damage and eviction”.

“When we see these things happen, only then will we truly believe them. However currently, apprehension persists. They could backtrack at any moment or dishonor the deal as before stranding us in the same endless cycle without any improvement except more suffering,” said Hassouna, who is from northern Gaza yet has experienced relocation repeatedly.

Contradictory Sentiments Among Residents

Ola al-Nazli, 47 explained she heard about the truce through her neighbors in al-Mawasi. “I did not know how to feel, if I should celebrate or sorrowful. We have experienced this many times before, and on each occasion our hopes were dashed once more, so this time apprehension and wariness have intensified,” Nazli revealed, who was compelled to evacuate her residence in Gaza City due to the latest military operations in the city.

“People reside in tents that fail to safeguard from chilly conditions or from the bombing. Those who had money or employment lost everything. This explains why our relief is accompanied by agony and dread. I only hope that we can live securely, away from detonations, not be forced to move, and that access points will be accessible quickly,” said Nazli.

Relief Arrangements In Progress

Relief groups stated they were organizing to “flood” Gaza with nourishment and necessary items. The 20-point plan provides for an increase in humanitarian assistance. The World Health Organization chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, stated the organization was equipped to increase activities to respond to urgent healthcare demands throughout the territory, and assist recovery of the ruined healthcare network”.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, hailed the agreement as a “huge relief”, and mentioned it maintained sufficient food reserves beyond the territory to supply the devastated territory’s over two million people over the next quarter. Though more aid has entered the territory over past weeks, amounts remain highly deficient, relief staff said.

Hope and Anxiety Within Evacuated Residents

Jihad al-Hilu received information of the ceasefire on a radio as he sat in his shelter located in the al-Mawasi area. “At that moment, I experienced a combination of joy and relief, like a glimmer of optimism reentered my soul after a long wait. We anxiously awaited this point in time, for killings to end and for the atrocities that have destroyed numerous families to end,” Hilu in his thirties shared.

“Simultaneously, exists significant apprehension that lives within us. We fear that this truce could be short-lived and that hostilities could return like earlier instances.”

There are also general worries about what peace might mean for the region, where more than 90% of homes have experienced ruin or demolished, almost all infrastructure obliterated and where numerous residents experience daily hunger. Over sixty-seven thousand Palestinians mostly civilians have lost their lives by the Israeli offensive launched in the aftermath the militant attack in October 2023, that resulted in 1,200 deaths similarly mainly ordinary people and 251 people abducted by armed groups.

“The main anxiety above all else is the deficiency of protection. Starvation is tolerable, yet insecurity represents the actual calamity. I fear that the territory might become an area of disorder controlled by criminal groups and paramilitary organizations in place of legal systems.”

Current Situation

Observers reported armed units discharged artillery to prevent Palestinians returning to northern parts of the region during Thursday’s dawn but reported absence of combat noises or air attacks.

A resident named Nadra Hamadeh, her sibling, her sister’s husband, two nieces and another relative lost their lives in hostilities, expressed her desire to return from al-Mawasi to Gaza’s northern part at the earliest opportunity to inspect her residence, which she believes has suffered harm though not completely ruined.

“There is deep sorrow for those who lost their families and children and homes … As for us, we hope for going back to our residence which we had to evacuate. The sensation persists as if our souls were taken from our bodies at the time of evacuation,” the 57-year-old Hamadeh commented.

“Our aspiration remains that conflict concludes,