Civilians in Gaza waited anxiously on Friday for an end to 15 months of incessant war, as Israel's cabinet met in Jerusalem to finalize a temporary ceasefire deal with Hamas.
While they waited, Israel hit the strip with airstrikes, killing at least 113 people since the deal was approved in principle on Wednesday night, according to the Hamas-run civil defense group there. the Gaza.
The agreement, which was concluded on Friday afternoon, is expected to take effect on Sunday, leaving just over 24 more hours for the people of Gaza to live for relief.
“Time moves slower than ever,” said Dr. Abdallah Shabir, 27, an emergency doctor at the Baptist Hospital in Gaza City. “Any moment you can lose your life,” he said. “Sitting at home, walking on the street – there is no warning. “
Dr. Shabir had moved in the hospital on Wednesday night when the news of the ceasefire agreement came through. There was a brief moment of joy, he said, but less than an hour separated the news from the start of a wave of airstrikes that sent a flood of dead and wounded people to the Baptistery.
All employees were called. “It was as bad as we've ever seen,” said Dr. Shabir. “Bad wounds, severe burns. Many dead, indeed.”
According to the United Nations Satellite Center, 69% of structures in Gaza were destroyed or damaged. (EPA)
Among the dead brought in Thursday was a colleague, Hala Abu Ahmed, a 27-year-old specialist in internal medicine who two colleagues at Baptist described as an enthusiastic and promising young doctor and a decent person
She had been working hard and under great pressure for 15 months, since the start of the war, said Dr. Ahmad Eliwah, head of the emergency department, and she was killed after the ceasefire was agreed.
Among the millions who were displaced, many were waiting on Friday for the moment they could return home for the first time since the war began. Many will find bombed wasteland instead of home.
“My house is completely destroyed, the building is gone,” said Sabreen Doshan, 45, who owned a street hut and lived in a residential block in Gaza City.
Doshan had lost 17 members of her extended family since the war began, she said. She was ready to leave Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, where she has been living in a tent, for the ruins of her home.
“Even if I have to put my tent on rubble it will be all right, because I will be home,” she said. “Nowhere can satisfy me now but the house.”
The destruction of the Gaza Strip is enormous. According to a recent study by the United Nations Satellite Centre, 69% of all structures and 68% of roads have been destroyed or damaged, as of December. About 46,700 people were killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Israel planned to destroy Hamas in Gaza in October 2023, after the group attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.
For Gazans, the joy of the long-awaited peace is tempered by the scale of death and destruction. “By God, it's a mixed feeling,” said Wael Muhammad, a lone journalist living in a refugee camp in central Gaza.
“From one moment to another, from joy to pain,” he said. “I'm glad the blood flow will stop, but we live in misery.”
Palestinians celebrate the news of a ceasefire agreement in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza. (Getty Images)
Friday afternoon, the cease-fire agreement was making its way through the Israeli political system for a final agreement. It is a solution for the first group of three hostages to come out as early as Sunday, in exchange for about 95 Palestinian prisoners.
But the exchange, which will play out over the next six weeks, is fraught with the possibility of collapse.
“The biggest challenge is whether the ceasefire is going to be successfully implemented,” said Juliette Touma, director of communications for the UNRWA refugee agency.
“If so, the challenge they face is still huge. Most of the shelters are overcrowded. Many of them are just living out in the open, or in makeshift structures. There is a lack of necessities They have basic things like warm clothes. I wouldn't call these living conditions, they are not suitable conditions for human beings.”
In Gaza on Friday, some were focused on Sunday, and whether they would go to that relief without the agreement falling apart.
“We are afraid of any change, any movement,” said Khalil Nateel, 30, whose house in Jabalia in the far north of the Gaza Strip was destroyed early in the war.
“The news is on,” said Nateel, from a shelter in central Gaza. “We are watching and waiting.”
