Deir el-Balah, Gaza – This word is a weary wish in Gaza, as much a source of burning disappointment as the last emblem of hope.
This has also been on the lips of protesters around the world, who have been demonstrating for months against the carnage of Israel’s war on Gaza.
The word is “ceasefire”, the end of the Israeli assault that has hit the Gaza Strip for seven months – killing at least 34,683 people and injuring at least 78,018 others in a prolonged Israeli retaliation against an attack carried out by Hamas on its territory on January 1. October 7.
Several rounds of ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas in recent months have failed to end the bloodshed or even secure a temporary pause, as happened last November.
The source of the impasse in the negotiations is that Hamas wants a definitive end to the war and assurances that Israel will not invade Rafah, the refuge of nearly 1.5 million Palestinians.
During ongoing negotiations in Cairo, Egypt, Israel agreed to a pause in fighting of just 40 days and said it would continue its offensive on Rafah regardless of a deal being reached.
A possible ceasefire keeps internally displaced person (IDP) Abeer al-Namrouti glued to her phone day and night, with the displaced Gaza resident often falling asleep to the news bulletins that always pass by her head.
“I will continue listening until I hear the word ‘ceasefire’,” al-Namrouti told Tel Aviv Tribune.
The 39-year-old mother of eight left the town of al-Qarara in Khan Younis after munitions hit her house, destroying it. The attack also injured her and her husband, and they had to undergo weeks of treatment which is still ongoing for her husband.
From the tent they currently live in in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, she travels to the nearby Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital to get the medicine her husband still needs and administers them intravenously. It’s a difficult life, but she remains determined.
Al-Namrouti hopes this time for a ceasefire.
“(Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu delays things – every time things move a little bit, he puts obstacles in place, but this time I am more optimistic than in the past,” she said.
Even though months of shuttle diplomacy have failed so far, if a deal is reached the family will return to the city where they lived.
“I know we won’t (even) have a tent there or anything, but all that matters is that we’re on the land that belongs to us.
“I’m going to go back, set up a tent and stay,” she concluded flatly.
“This has never happened until now”
Wael el-Nabahin, 48, came from Bureij to Deir el-Balah with his family and set up a somewhat unusual tent, the family has a television to watch the news, and even a washing machine.
“I wanted my family to be somewhat comfortable and not live in an abject disaster. We watch the news all the time to see what’s happening,” el-Nabahin told Tel Aviv Tribune.
But the father of four is skeptical about a ceasefire agreement in the near future.
“There has been talk of a ceasefire before, but it has never happened until now,” he said.
But if such an agreement existed, he would be determined to return to Bureij, even if his house was burned down.
“If there was a ceasefire, the first thing we would do is take our tents and go back to where our homes were. We will settle there,” el-Nabahin said.
It was this weariness that Louise Wateridge observed among the Palestinians with whom she worked in Rafah. The spokesperson for the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNWRA, says a ceasefire is the minimum demand of war-weary Palestinians.
“People here are so tired. There is a continuous fear, a continuous displacement. The only hope they have is a ceasefire… No matter who you are, the feeling here is that we need an immediate ceasefire.
“It’s going to end, world war or not, it’s going to end”
For Mahmoud el-Khatib, simply staying alive to see the end of the war would be significant.
“My house was destroyed, but it’s not about the house or a car or anything, it’s more about how we now view just surviving as a victory ” el-Khatib told Tel Aviv Tribune.
The 55-year-old father of eight was displaced from Juhor ad-Dik, forced to move between Deir el-Balah and Rafah in the south in recent months.
“We are all optimistic that there will be a ceasefire and that we can return home to the north where we belong,” he said.
“If I felt safe, everything would be fine, even if I’m in a simple tent. »
And while many diligently follow the news in the hope of a deal, Raed Abu Khousa had to take a break. Keeping an eye on the war on a daily basis took a toll on his mental health.
The 45-year-old father of eight was displaced from Bureij over the past four months after his house was severely damaged.
Although he now lives in a tent, which he says is increasingly difficult as summer approaches, Khousa is cautiously optimistic about a truce agreement.
“I’m not very optimistic, but I feel like we’re closer to something. And if not this time, we are closer to a solution,” he told Tel Aviv Tribune.
“It’s going to end, world war or not, it’s going to end. As Muslims, we believe that God will bring us success, and what is required of us is to be patient and wait for him.
