Deir el-Balah and Fukhari, Gaza Strip — After more than six weeks of war, Khaled Loz knows what he wants to do when the truce announced Wednesday by Israel and Hamas finally comes into force.
He wants to sleep.
“That’s the first thing I want to do. I am tired of all this incessant bombardment,” he says.
Since Hamas fighters attacked southern Israel on October 7, in which they killed 1,200 people, Israeli aerial bombardments and artillery have killed more than 14,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including more than 5,600 children. An estimated 1.7 million people of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced, many of whom left the northern part of the Gaza Strip for the south following warnings from the Israeli army.
But Israeli bombardment also extended to central and southern Gaza, leaving no part of the enclave safe, and refugee camps, schools and hospitals were also attacked.
Today, the declaration of a four-day truce, which could soon come into effect, promises the first hope of respite for the people of Gaza.
“We can find our soul a little,” says Loz. “We want to provide water to our homes, we want goods to come in instead of empty stores where we can’t find what we need. »
But it is also the first opportunity for thousands of families to finally be able to mourn their loved ones lost in the bombings. Others hope the break in fighting will allow them to search for missing relatives and friends.
Loz says his mother’s family home in Gaza City was bombed. “I don’t know who is left of them, and I don’t know who was martyred. I want to see my uncle,” he said. “Where are they, where have they fled? »
“We want to mourn those we have lost. They (Israel) did not give us the opportunity to express our feelings, even to cry for our friends.
According to Hamas, the truce will allow the free movement of people from northern Gaza to the south along the Salah al-Din road, the territory’s main highway. But there is no guarantee of movement to the north, where Gaza City is based. So it’s unclear whether those like Loz who want to search for missing relatives in the north will be able to get there.
Etaf Hussien Musataf al-Jamalan, a father of five, was displaced from Sheikh Radwan, a district of Gaza City, and hoped to return to check on his house during the break in fighting. He says he has “mixed feelings” about the truce.
“We wanted to check our houses. Maybe take some supplies or something,” he said, adding that it’s “sad” that the terms of the truce don’t allow for it. He doesn’t know if his house is still standing – the United Nations estimates that half of the houses in northern Gaza were damaged or destroyed in the bombings – but he says he would rather “live in a tent in our neighborhood” instead as a Displaced Person.
Enas al-Jamalah, 12, is also from Sheikh Radwan. Moved to Deir el-Balah, he and thousands of others sleep outside as winter approaches in Gaza, with nighttime temperatures dropping to 15 degrees Celsius (59 degrees Fahrenheit). His reason for returning home – if it still holds – is simple. “We just want to be warm,” he said.
This desire to return home also attracts Fatima Qudayh. The 37-year-old from the town of Khuza’a fled to nearby Khan Younis in southern Gaza two days after the start of the war.
Her house in Khuza’a had been damaged in the 2021 war, but she and her family had lovingly rebuilt it. Now she doesn’t know if everything is okay, if it is damaged or destroyed. She hopes to visit him once the truce comes into effect.
Her six children have barely slept since the war started, she says. “Every night there are bombings everywhere. Every day they ask me questions about the house. Is it good? Are their toys and rooms OK? »
“I tell them I pray they’re okay, but the most important thing is that you’re okay.”