Between hope and anxiety, Palestinians in Gaza look forward to Biden's ceasefire plan

Between hope, fear, and anxiety, Palestinians in Gaza are following the news about US President Joe Biden's initiative that was announced on Friday and which could potentially lead to an agreement between Israel and Hamas for a ceasefire in the war-torn and besieged coastal enclave.

Biden's initiative includes three stages: The first stage consists of a comprehensive ceasefire with the Israeli army withdrawing from populated areas, allowing the displaced to return to their homes and increasing the number of aid trucks to 600 per day, in exchange for Hamas releasing several Israeli captives. The second stage includes Hamas releasing all Israeli captives who remain alive, including soldiers, in exchange for transforming the temporary ceasefire into a permanent one and the Israeli army withdrawing from the entire Gaza Strip. The third and final stage will be the beginning of the reconstruction of Gaza, with Hamas releasing all the remains of the dead Israeli captives it is holding.

Separately speaking to The New Arab, Palestinians in Gaza expressed differing points of view, moving between optimism and pessimism, about the possibility of implementing the initiative. 

Some Palestinians say they believe this initiative will be implemented soon, "especially since its terms are somewhat reasonable and may be acceptable to Hamas, as they clearly indicate a permanent ceasefire."

Other Palestinians expressed fears that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not accept ending the war easily, "because he knows very well that he is facing trial and that he is at risk of imprisonment in Israel due to the cases filed against him on corruption charges."

For his part, Yazan al-Absi, a resident of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, said, "I hope that this initiative will be the final one and that both Hamas and Israel will agree to it (...) We are tired, exhausted, and have lost everything. There is nothing left for us to lose in this war."

Al-Absi, a 35-year-old father of three who keeps up with the news constantly, added, "The real war will be after the end of the military war (...) People will return to their destroyed homes that will no longer be suitable for living, so how will the Palestinians here be able to deal with their catastrophic conditions after the war?"

Al-Absi continues, "However, we are looking forward to stopping the death machine that Israel imposed on us for more than eight months (...) We want to live and rebuild our lives after the war. All countries in the world live in peace except for us Palestinians who live in fear and terror and under death all the time."

Al-Absi explained that he knows very well that "life will not be easy for many years, but at least it will be without death and Israeli massacres that do not differentiate between civilians and soldiers, children, women and the elderly."

Samir Al-Rayes, another Gaza-based displaced Palestinian man, was not optimistic about the possibility of reaching an agreement between Hamas and Israel and accused Netanyahu of manipulating the international and Arab community by threatening from time to time with Israel's acceptance of the ceasefire initiative. 

"When matters reach the point of implementation, he rejects it openly and blatantly," he remarked to TNA. 

"We have been living in a devastating war for eight months, and Netanyahu has not allowed any real initiatives or deals to pass that contribute to a ceasefire (...) What is different this time? Nothing!" he added. 

"Biden and Netanyahu launched this deceptive initiative in order to divert attention from the massacres taking place in Rafah and push the world to think about a ceasefire, but in reality, all this news is nothing but an attempt by US and Israel to gain more time to commit more crimes in Rafah, as happened in most areas of the Gaza Strip," Al-Rayes noted

He did not rule out that Israel would make life more difficult for the residents of the Gaza Strip by forcing them to "voluntarily emigrate" from the Gaza Strip after it making it impossible to live there.

Wafaa Adwan from the town of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip and currently displaced in Khan Yunis denounced the Israeli statements that may give some hope that the war will end while the Israeli army continues to bomb all areas of the Gaza Strip.

"We do not sleep at night because of the intensity of the sounds of explosions resulting from the demolition of entire residential blocks, not only in Rafah but also in Khan Yunis, which is supposed to have become a safe area," she said to TNA. 

"We do not know what will happen in an hour from now, especially since we are all exposed to killing and death in light of the ongoing Israeli bombardment, but we hope that the war will stop as soon as possible so that we have enough time to inspect our losses," Adwan added. 

Israel has been launching a large-scale war on the Gaza Strip after Hamas led a military attack on Israeli military bases and civilian settlements within and around the Gaza envelop, killing about 1,140 people and capturing about 240 according to Israeli authorities.

Israeli indiscriminate attacks on the coastal enclave killed more than 36,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 82,000, mostly women and children, according to Ministry of Health in Gaza.

Egypt, Qatar, and the US continue their intensive mediation efforts between Hamas and Israel to reach a ceasefire agreement. Still, none of their efforts have succeeded since last November, which witnessed humanitarian truces for only one week.

However, this time it seems that it may be different from previous times, according to a Palestinian source close to Hamas.

The source, who preferred to remain anonymous, told TNA that Hamas is preparing itself to respond positively to the US proposal regarding reaching a deal with Israel if it receives written guarantees that "force Israel to abide by any agreement with the movement."

The Palestinian source, who is familiar with the progress of the indirect negotiations with Israel, said, "The movement views positively the proposal presented by US President Joe Biden, especially since it includes most of Hamas's demands, but we will not give our final response unless we receive official, written guarantees."

"Hamas believes that Biden's proposal could be a prelude to putting an end to the Israeli war on Gaza if he exerts official pressure on Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu," the source added. 

However, the source explained, Hamas fears that the new proposal is merely "a new manoeuvre by the United States and Israel with the aim of freeing the hostages from Gaza without a final cessation of the war, which would place the Palestinian people under the burden of suffering for months and perhaps years to come."

The source said Hamas informed relevant parties of its positive initial response to the proposal. Nevertheless, the source stressed that its final position would remain contingent on "receiving a written document from the mediators that includes all the terms that will be agreed upon without any ambiguity in the details of implementation."