Just as Palestinians in Gaza were buoyed by a sense of hope on Wednesday after news of a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, deadly Israeli airstrikes decimated people, turning the celebration into a a disturbance
Families wept as they saw the bodies of their loved ones wrapped in white linen and carried in Khan Younis outside Nasser Hospital on Friday – their names written in blue ink in Arabic, on each man
Jomaa Abdel-Aal said two of his nephews – Mohammed Asaad Jarghoun, 28, and Mohammed Mahmoud Jarghoun, 27 – were killed in a tent in the center of Khan Younis around 2am on Friday.
“Every day we say goodbye to the martyrs. We've gotten used to saying goodbye to our loved ones,” Abdel-Aal told CBC News' Mohamed El Saife video on Friday.
“May God bring us together again with them (in the next life),” he said. “Life has become an unbearable hell.”
Other mourners gathered to pray over those killed while women wept, holding each other.
At least 117 people have been killed since Wednesday
On Friday, the Israeli security cabinet approve proposal Gaza fire and hostilities return agreement, ahead of a full cabinet meeting that would give final approval to the agreement which is due to officially come into effect on Sunday.
As the final details were still being formalized, Israeli warplanes kept up intense strikes over the Gaza Strip in the days following Wednesday's announcement.
At least 117 Palestinians, including 32 women and 30 children, have since been killed and another 266 wounded, according to the Palestinian Civil Defense in Gaza.
Palestinians gathered Friday at Nasser Hospital near Khan Younis in southern Gaza to pray over the bodies of their loved ones killed in Israeli airstrikes just days away from when a ceasefire is expected to take place to effect.
Abdel Aal, who lost two children to airstrikes in the 15-month war, said he is not optimistic that the killings in Gaza will stop.
“The Palestinian people have not been able to enjoy even just for a moment in the last 75 years while the death and destruction has taken place in these countries,” he said.
There was no comment from the Israeli military on the latest strikes.
Journalist killed in designated humanitarian area
Earlier this week, just hours after Palestinians took to the streets to celebrate news of a deal reached on Wednesday, Ismail Al-Shiah's brother, Ahmed Al-Shiah – a journalist in Gaza – was killed in an Israeli airplane that hit a charity soup kitchen in the Al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. The area is identified as a humanitarian safe zone.
“He was feeding orphans, and he was working with the charity,” Al-Shiah told CBC News on Thursday.
“This is a loss for Palestine and a loss for the country.”
In a video widely circulated online, a young Palestinian man can be seen draped over the body of his sister who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a home in central Gaza City early Thursday.
“Hala, get up, the war is over, we can go south,” he says as he shakes the girl's body. “Hala, we can leave Gaza and travel outside the country, get up!”
Hope quickly turns to despair
Saeed Awad, a paramedic in Gaza, said that Israeli bombardment has increased especially since Wednesday in central and northern Gaza.
“All of this is really ruining people's happiness,” Awad told CBC News on Thursday. “And it affects the happiness that was there (Wednesday).”
Awad said there was a strike in Ard al Mufti in central Gaza on Thursday, but the Palestinian Civil Defense and ambulances were unable to reach the area.
“The house was on fire and no one could get to it.”
Israel will not accept the cease-fire agreement with Hamas officially until it is approved by the security cabinet and the country's government. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delayed the vote, accusing Hamas of making last-minute demands and reneging on agreements.
Tamer Abu Shaaban's voice cracked as he stood over the tiny body of his young brother wrapped in a white sheet on the tiled floor of a morgue in Gaza City on Thursday. She was hit in the back by shrapnel from a bullet while playing in the garden of a school where the family was taking shelter, he said.
“Is this the misery they speak of? What has this girl, this child, done to please this? What has she done to deserve this? Is she at war with you, Israel?” he asked.
The truce agreement appeared on Wednesday after mediation by Qatar, Egypt and the US The agreement describes an initial six-week ceasefire with the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces, as well as the release of Palestinian hostages and prisoners.
If successful, the ceasefire would halt fighting between Hamas and Israeli forces that has devastated much of Gaza and killed more than 46,800 people, mostly women and children, according to the Ministry of Health there. It does not say how many of the dead were terrorists.
Israel claims to have killed more than 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.
The war began when terrorists led by Hamas entered Israel in a surprise attack on October 7, 2023, killing approximately 1,200 people, including several Canadian citizens, and abducting around 250.
About 100 hostages remain inside Gaza, and the Israeli military estimates that between a third and up to half of these are dead.
