Gaza: Hamas-Israel truce gives Palestinians a chance to mourn

Thousands of Palestinians flooded into the streets, markets, and even the devastated areas as the temporary ceasefire between Hamas and Israel took effect on Friday morning. 

The ceasefire came after long weeks of Israel's indiscriminate bombardment of Gaza, which claimed more than 14,500 Palestinian lives, while 4,000 others are believed to be trapped under the rubble, many likely deceased. 

Speaking to The New Arab, locals said that they hoped that the current ceasefire would be the beginning of the end of the “Israeli aggression” against innocent people in the impoverished coastal enclave. 

Mohammed Abdel Aal, a Rafah-based man, was among scores of his family members who were forced to walk tens of kilometres on foot to reach their homes.

Once Abdel Aal reached his house he found it completely destroyed along with the entire block of housing. 

“The Israeli army told us to evacuate. We thought that we would be back in a few days, but it seems that Israel has already decided to destroy all aspects of our life in Gaza,” said the 63-year-old father of six.

Abdel Aal has been displaced with his 20-member family to one of the UNRWA’s schools in the western Rafah. He and all displaced people have been struggling to obtain their basic daily food and water needs. 

Because of the total damage, Abdel Aal will not be able to return to his house if and when a permanent ceasefire finds its way to Gaza.

For Jalal Abu Sharkh, a Palestinian man from al-Nuseirat refugee camp in the centre of Gaza, the humanitarian ceasefire allowed his three brothers to recover 30 bodies of people who were missing under the rubble for more than six days. 

Because of ongoing Israeli airstrikes on the strip, medical staff and rescuers made only brief checks of whether anyone is still alive under the rubble to be rescued, Abu Sharkh explained to TNA. 

“If the rescuers do not hear any voices, they leave the area and leave all the stuck people under the rubble,” the 42-year-old man said, adding that “we could not try to rescue the casualties...we are afraid of the Israelis attacking.”

Out of the 30 dead people, his family rescued two, a woman and her son, who were still alive despite spending four days under the rubble without food or water. 

A long-awaited 'pause'

On Wednesday, Hamas and Israel reached a four-day humanitarian ceasefire in the coastal enclave following Qatari-led mediation. 

The ceasefire came after 46 days of bloody conflict that forced more than 2.3 million Palestinians to live with relentless Israeli attacks. 

The two sides agreed to a halt in fighting from 7:00 am (0500 GMT) today, as 13 women and children held hostage in Gaza are due to be freed at 4:00 pm, followed by several Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, according to Qatari mediators.
 

Qatari officials said the "first batch" of 13 hostages to be released by Hamas would be women and children from the same families.

Israel is set to release around 150 Palestinian women and child prisoners.

Aid trucks were also seen entering the Gaza Strip from Egypt hours after the truce began.

Two of the trucks, representing Egyptian organisations, carried banners that said, "Together for Humanity." Another said: "For our brothers in Gaza."

🧵Day 49 of Israel's war on Gaza

👉4-day truce in Gaza begins, but Israeli forces open fire around Al-Rantisi Hospital as displaced citizens attempt to return to home
👉Thousands others who fled to Rafah border try to return home too

🔴Live coverage: https://t.co/2mI4S0alA1 pic.twitter.com/5FvnMxVEHL

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) November 24, 2023

Egypt has said 130,000 litres of diesel and four trucks of gas will be delivered daily to Gaza when the truce starts and that 200 trucks of aid will enter Gaza daily. Aid groups say this is nowhere near enough.

Layan al-Amasi, a Gaza-based mother of four, was sceptical of the reprieve, saying, “it will not add any advantages to us in Gaza. We lost our life, security and everything.” 

“Such quantities will not be sufficient for the Palestinian people in Gaza as most of them were displaced from their houses,” the 56-year-old mother of five told TNA.