“We've been waiting for this for a long time,” 17-year-old Sanabel says. “Finally, I'll lay my head on my pillow without worrying.”
She is one of millions of Palestinians across Gaza celebrating the ceasefire deal that the US and Qatari mediators say was agreed by Israel and Hamas on Wednesday after 15 months of war.
As part of the first phase of the agreement, which takes effect on January 19, Israeli forces will withdraw from populated areas in Gaza, allowing displaced Palestinians to return to their homes. Hundreds of aid trucks are allowed into the area each day.
Those in Gaza have spoken of their joy and relief, but also their sadness and anxiety as they mourn loved ones who were killed, and begin to rebuild the area after more than a year. of destruction.
Speaking to the BBC World Service after news of the ceasefire, Sanabel, who is in Gaza City, said: “Finally! We got what we wanted! We're all on our way now!”
She said her family planned to return home “in the middle of the night” in her father's newly repaired car.
Qatar and the US ratified the ceasefire and cessation of hostilities deal after talks resumed in recent weeks, prompting celebrations both in Gaza and from the families of the Israeli hostages.
A Hamas official said earlier that they had approved the draft agreement from mediators. The Israeli prime minister's office said there were “several outstanding clauses” but hoped details would be finalized on Wednesday night.
The agreement will come into force on 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 from 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 stay alive”.
Dima Shurrab said she was still scared, but her fear would “disappear” when the ceasefire agreement starts (BBC)
Her family lived in a home that was partially destroyed after evacuating several times. They lived on bread, nuts, peas, beans and very expensive vegetables. She walked up to two kilometers to get water and light wood fires because she had no cooking gas.
She had a scholarship to study medicine in Algeria, but the war broke out two days after she submitted her passport for a visa. She was unable to pay a broker around $5,000 (£4,088) to go through Rafah – her only option until May, when that crossing closed.
“I felt like my future, my dreams were blocked,” she said.
Now, however, a break brings her desire to become a doctor closer.
The first phase of the deal, which will last six weeks, will also see 33 of the nearly 100 hostages held by Hamas exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.
Negotiations for the second phase will begin on the 16th day of the break. He should release the remaining enemies, withdraw full Israeli troops and “permanent calm”.
The third and final phase would involve the reconstruction of Gaza, which could take years, and the return of any other hostages' bodies.
'Moving between joy and sorrow'
Farida, a teacher displaced from northern Gaza, said she had not seen her mother, father and brothers for over a year.
Speaking from Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, she told BBC Arabic's Gaza Helpline: “We are currently experiencing a situation of hope, fear and anxiety.
“We are also going through feelings of longing… We are trying to breathe a freedom that has been denied to us.
“No matter how much I talk, I won't be able to describe the mixed feelings that make me and the happiness I feel now to return to the north.”
Reem, a mother who was also expelled from the north where she lost her home, told the programme: “Thank God we are finally living in this time that we did not expect ever.
“The feeling I'm going through now is alternating between happiness and sadness.”
Hashim Adel Abu Eiala, speaking in Khan Younis, told the BBC that he was experiencing “the greatest feeling in the world”.
“We have been waiting for more than a year and three months in this suffering, death, destruction, killing and hunger.
“We have been patient and have shown stability that other people in the world or in the Arab region have not shown before.”
He has been living in a tent for 15 months and will be “on his knees to thank God” when he returns home, he said, adding: “We wish the happiness this ends well. “
The Israeli military launched an operation to destroy Hamas in response to the group's unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were kidnapped.
More than 46,700 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.
Most of the population of 2.3 million have also disappeared, there is widespread destruction, and there are severe shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter as a result of the struggle to get aid to those in need.
