Bel Trew & Nedal Hamdouna
The Independent / January 19, 2025
Palestinians react to long-awaited ceasefire with mixture of joy and trepidation after 15 months of strikes on the Gaza Strip.
Tel Aviv/Gaza – Families in Gaza described Sunday’s ceasefire with Israel as a “glimmer of hope in a cycle of death” as they celebrated what they hope marks the end of Israel’s ferocious bombardment of the strip, which has killed over 46,000 people.
As the long-awaited truce between Hamas and Israel came into effect at 11am on Sunday, families were filmed travelling on foot, in donkey carts and cars through wastelands of destruction, many searching for the remains of their homes.
In other clips shared online, Palestinian journalists removed their body armour live on air for the first time. Crowds chanted, sang and whistled in the background.
Many hope the truce, brokered by the US, Qatar and Egypt, will herald the permanent end of the conflict that has ravaged Gaza and will secure the release of nearly 100 hostages abducted from Israel during the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023.
In Gaza, one of the most densely populated places on earth, Israel’s bombardment has killed over 46,000 people, including at least 14,500 children, according to the local health ministry. It has displaced 90 per cent of the more than two million residents and destroyed nearly 70 per cent of all buildings, according to the United Nations.
A spokesperson for the UN’s child agency told The Independent that the truce was a “critical first step” to stop the killing of Gaza’s civilians and to bring hostages home, but emphasised that the scale of destruction in the strip meant it was “insufficient to address the deep suffering”.
“We need the operational environment inside Gaza to considerably improve, which is going to be challenging,” they said, adding that there needed to be unfettered transport of aid.
Civilians, many of whom have been displaced more than five times and have lost countless family members, told The Independent that this ceasefire was a “glimmer of hope” but just the beginning of a long process of rehabilitation and reconstruction.
“You are talking about people whose past has been erased, and every horizon of the near future has been wiped away,” said Essam Raja (38), who was forced to flee his home in northern Gaza. He is now living in a tent in the so-called humanitarian zone of al-Mawasi, which was bombed before the ceasefire came into effect on Sunday.
“Everything we have has faced massive destruction and damage,” he said. “For the near future, everything is completely destroyed.
“There is a mix of conflicting emotions: joy and relief at the end of the tragedy, and sadness over the loss of loved ones, relatives, and friends.”
Mohamed, 44, who was also displaced to al-Mawasi from Gaza City, said he hoped the ceasefire would “restore people’s confidence that there is a glimmer of hope to escape the cycle of death we’ve endured since 7 October”.
“Right now, we live a life of misery in every sense of the word,” he told The Independent. “People are looking forward to a better future – a safe and prosperous life, away from the sound of planes, cannons, and bombs, so that our children can feel safe and secure.”
The 42-day first phase of the ceasefire should see the release of 33 hostages seized by Hamas militants during their bloody 7 October assault on Israel, during which they also killed over 1,200 people. Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli prisons, including dozens of women and children, are expected to be released with Palestinian media releasing details of 90 people slated to be freed on Sunday.
There is also expected to be a surge of humanitarian aid, with as many as 600 trucks entering Gaza daily, far more than Israel allowed before.
The United Nations World Food Programme reported that trucks began entering through two crossings after the ceasefire took effect. UNICEF’s Rosalia Bollen told The Independent that UNICEF alone had “the equivalent of 1,300 trucks” of nutritional items, sanitation, and hygiene kits ready to bring in immediately if “operational access could improve”.
But she said they faced significant challenges including heavy checks at the entry points, extensive damage to Gaza’s infrastructure such as roads, and security concerns, including a “vicious downward spiral of scarcity and looting”.
UNICEF estimates there are also tens of thousands of severely wounded children, many struggling with life-changing and lifelong injuries such as amputations. UNICEF also estimates that there are at least 17,000 children who are essentially orphaned: now unaccompanied or separated from their families due to the war.
“And so the suffering isn’t just physical. Every single child in Gaza has been deeply psychologically scarred by the unrelenting nature of this conflict. Children have witnessed things that no child should ever witness,” Ms Bollen continued.
“The trauma is real and incredibly severe, and it needs to be addressed. Every single child in Gaza needs psychosocial support.”
This is only the second ceasefire in the war but it is longer and more consequential than a week-long pause in November 2023, with the potential to bring the fighting to an end. However, there are concerns negotiations will be far more complex for the second phase of the ceasefire which is set to begin in just over two weeks. Major questions remain, including whether the war will resume after the first phase and how the remaining hostages in Gaza will be freed.
Across the Gaza Strip, celebrations erupted despite the anxieties. Masked militants did appear at some celebrations, where crowds chanted slogans in support of them, according to Associated Press reporters in Gaza. The Hamas-run police also began deploying publicly, having stayed out of sight during Israeli airstrikes. Civilians expressed desperation to return to their homes and find missing loved ones. In the southern city of Rafah, residents returned to scenes of massive destruction. Some found human remains, including skulls, amid the rubble.
Wael Mohamed (50) who is sheltering in the central area of Deir al-Balah after fleeing northern Gaza, said families needed to begin extracting the dead from the rubble, bringing them for burial, and treating the injured.
Alaa Qahman (32) a mother of two displaced in Khan Younis, said it was vital that the ceasefire held.
“People everywhere, from the far south to the north, are clutching at the faint straw of hope as soon as they hear news of a truce,” she told The Independent.
“They desperately need a ceasefire so that they can continue their lives in safety, away from danger.
“The people of Gaza have suffered and are still suffering from the horrors of this war. We are talking about orphans, widows, the wounded, and the disabled. A ceasefire is very important: the people need to heal their wounds and rebuild what was destroyed.”
Bel Trew is The Independent’s Chief International Correspondent
Nedal Hamdouna in Gaza
