‘We’ve been waiting a long time’ – Palestinians react to ceasefire deal
“We’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” says Sanabel, 17. “Finally, I’ll lay my head on my pillow without any worries.”
He is one of millions of Palestinians across Gaza celebrating the ceasefire deal that the US and mediator Qatar say Israel and Hamas agreed to on Wednesday after 15 months of war.
Part of the first phase of the agreement, which will take effect on January 19, will see Israeli forces withdraw from populated areas of Gaza, allowing displaced Palestinians to return to their homes. Hundreds of aid lorries will also be allowed into the area each day.
Gaza residents have spoken of their joy and relief as well as their sadness and anxiety as they mourn the loss of loved ones and begin rebuilding the area after more than a year of destruction. Have been.
Speaking to the BBC World Service after news of the ceasefire, Sanabel, who was in Gaza City, said: “Finally! We got what we wanted! We are all happy now!”
She said her family planned to return home “at midnight” in her father’s newly repaired car.
Qatar and the US both ratified the ceasefire and hostage release agreements after talks progressed in recent weeks, leading to celebrations in both Gaza and the families of Israeli hostages.
A Hamas official earlier said it had approved the draft agreement from mediators. The Israeli Prime Minister’s office said there were “many unresolved sections” but hoped details could be finalized on Wednesday night.
The deal will take effect from Sunday, subject to approval by the Israeli Cabinet.
“I feel great, I’ve never been so happy before,” Dima Shurrab, 19, told the BBC in a WhatsApp message to Khan Younis. “I can’t believe what’s happening around me now. Am I dreaming?”
“We are happy in Gaza, but we are afraid. The fear will disappear when the agreement comes into force.”
Just two months ago, Shurrab ended a call with the words “Pray we survive.”
His family was living in a partially destroyed house after being evacuated several times. They survived on bread, nuts, peas, beans and some very expensive vegetables. She walked two kilometers to fetch water and lit a wood fire because she had no cooking gas.
She had received a scholarship to study medicine in Algeria, but war broke out two days after she submitted her passport to obtain a visa. She was unable to pay a broker about $5,000 (£4,088) to leave Rafah – her only option until May, when that crossing closed.
“I felt like my future, my dreams, were being blocked,” he said.
However, now the ceasefire brings his ambition of becoming a doctor closer.
In the first phase of the six-week deal, 33 of the approximately 100 hostages held by Hamas will be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
The second phase of talks will start on the 16th day of the ceasefire. This would include the release of remaining hostages, a full Israeli military withdrawal and “permanent peace”.
The third and final phase would involve the reconstruction of Gaza, which could take years, and the return of the bodies of remaining hostages.
‘A day of joy and sorrow’
Ahmed Dahman, 25, told Reuters news agency that the first thing he would do when the ceasefire begins is to recover the body of his father, who was killed in an airstrike on his family home last year, and “bury him properly”. ,
“I feel mixed happiness because lives are being saved and bloodshed is being stopped,” he said from Deir al-Balah.
“But I’m also worried about the post-war trauma of what we’ll see on the streets, our destroyed homes, my father whose body is still under the debris.”
Iman al-Qouka, who lives with her family in a tent in the area, described it as “a day of joy and sadness, a shock and joy.”
“Certainly this is a day when we should all cry and cry long for what we have lost,” he told Reuters.
On 7 October 2023, the Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel, which killed approximately 1,200 and took 251 others hostage.
More than 46,700 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Much of the 2.3 million population has also been displaced, there has been widespread destruction, and there are severe shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter as aid struggles to get to those in need.
