Joy in Gaza for truce, after 15 months of death and destruction

Ramallah, January 16.- After 15 months of death and destruction, the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip woke up today with hope about the end of the war after the six-week ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel.

Celebrations broke out throughout the coastal enclave last night after the truce was announced, which will come into effect next Sunday.

Cries of “God is great” spread throughout Gaza in the last few hours after the news became known.

Regional television stations, such as Al Jazeera, showed the celebrations of the Palestinians in the territory, destroyed as a result of Israeli ground operations and bombings.

More than 46,000 people have died and another 109,000 have been injured since October 7, 2023, when the new cycle of violence began after the Hamas attack on the neighboring country.

“Our feelings are a mixture of joy, fear and anxiety, joy at the end of a nightmare, the fear of what is coming and that we do not know what awaits us, and relief after the end of the tragedy,” a Gazan told the Safa news agency.

I know very well that our house in the Shujaiya neighborhood of Gaza City is destroyed, but this place will remain our home and we will live here, even if it is in a tent, he stressed.

It is true that our joy is great, but so is our sadness, said Noura Deeb, a displaced person from the northern region.

“The joy of the truce is great, but we miss our relatives who died” from Israeli bombs, agreed Ola Sukkar.

According to the agreement, more than a thousand Palestinian prisoners will be released for 33 Israelis, most of them alive, released in the first phase, which will last six weeks.

For every Israeli civilian, 30 Palestinians will be released, a figure that will increase to 50 for every female soldier.

In addition, displaced Palestinians will be able to return to northern Gaza, an area devastated by the conflict.

However, there are so far several versions about the permanence of the troops from the neighboring country.

While Arab television stations assure that the soldiers will abandon the entire region, including the Philadelphia and Netzarin corridors, Israeli sources denied these statements and assure that it will be a partial, although extensive, evacuation.

The first is a strip of Palestinian land 100 metres wide and 14.5 kilometres long that runs parallel to the border between Egypt and Gaza and the second was created during the current war to cut the coastal enclave in two.

It was also agreed to significantly increase the entry of humanitarian aid into the territory, which has been under a strict blockade since the start of the fighting, in October 2023.

Channel 12 reported that talks on the second phase will begin on the 16th of the ceasefire, negotiated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, coming into effect.

Hamas demands the complete withdrawal of the occupying forces and the end of the war in order to hand over the rest of the Israeli prisoners, in the second and third phases, and the reconstruction of the enclave. (Text and photo: PL)