Amidst an atmosphere filled with anticipation and hope, the residents of the Gaza Strip spent their first night after the ceasefire took effect on Sunday, following 471 days during which Israel committed all kinds of crimes.
The skies were devoid of warplanes and the sounds of bombs and missiles, replaced by a silence and calm that the residents had not experienced for many months.
Child Saeed Abu Mahadi stated that he slept deeply for the first time, feeling calm and safe, after the genocide ceased and the tanks and planes fell silent.
He added that for the first time in many months, he slept in his bed happily and reassured, no longer fearing bombardment, death, or destruction.
In Khan Younis, citizen Mahmoud Saad al-Din said that he slept amidst the ruins of his destroyed home after setting up a tent on it.
He added that he had never felt as safe or at ease as he did that night, saying: ‘How could I not feel safe when I sleep in my home, even if it is a pile of rubble?
‘I love it more than all the palaces in the world,’ emphasising that he would rebuild it brick by brick, making it more beautiful than it was before.
He continued: ‘It is our right to live in safety and calm, without bombardment or killing; this is the simplest right for any human being.’
Saad al-Din appealed to the entire world to intervene in the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, to expedite relief efforts, and to rehabilitate the infrastructure, calling for a swift recovery.
With the agreement now in effect, the residents of the Gaza Strip began attempting to restore manifestations of normal life.
People cautiously roamed the streets of the city, despite the destruction left by the war of genocide.
Entire families spread out, searching through the rubble for their lost belongings, while emergency and relief teams began clearing debris and opening blocked roads.
Citizen Mahmoud al-Danaf affirmed that for the first time since the beginning of the genocide, he was walking in the streets of Deir al-Balah without any fear.
He remarked: ‘We would go out during the war, and every moment was a moment of bombardment; we escaped death numerous times.’
Now, Gazans are wandering in their areas without fear, all hopeful that the cloud will completely lift and that the occupation will end over all Palestinian land.
As the early morning hours approached, markets began to open their doors, and traders returned to display their goods, despite a significant shortage of essential items.
Bakeries and gas stations filled with citizens seeking to secure their needs, embarking on the path to recovery, embodying a spirit of resilience.
On the humanitarian front, local and international relief teams rushed to provide assistance to the displaced and affected individuals.
- New images from Gaza show scenes of total devastation wrought during Israel’s 15 months of horrific bombardment, while a UN report says over 436,000 homes have been destroyed or damaged across the narrow coastal enclave.
A ceasefire deal came into effect on Sunday January 19, allowing the besieged people of Gaza to return to their destroyed homes and search for missing loved ones, who are still buried under the vast sea of rubble.
The destruction is enormous and frightening, said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Tuesday.
It said approximately 92 per cent of residences are left in ruins, particularly in the north.
Rebuilding those homes could take until 2040 in the most optimistic scenario, with total reconstruction across the territory costing as much as $40 billion, according to the United Nations estimates.
Gaza’s schools, which have been used as shelters for the displaced, including UN schools, have also been a target of Israel’s airstrikes since the beginning of the war in October 2023.
Two-thirds of Gaza’s pre-war structures – over 170,000 buildings – have been damaged or flattened, according to UN satellite data (UNOSAT) in December.
Palestinian data shows that Israel’s war has led to the destruction of over 200 government facilities, 136 schools and universities, 823 mosques, and three churches.
Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organisation (WHO) representative in Palestine, said the ceasefire ‘brings hope, but immense challenges lie ahead’.
‘Addressing the massive needs and restoring the health system will be an extremely complex and challenging task, given the scale of destruction, operational complexity and constraints involved.’
Gaza’s Civil Defence agency – the strip’s main emergency response service – says it feared there were more than 10,000 bodies still buried under the rubble.
The agency’s spokesman, Mahmoud Basal, said they hoped to recover the dead within 100 days, but were likely to be delayed by a deficit of bulldozers and other essential equipment.
According to figures released by Gaza’s health ministry on Tuesday, over 47,100 people have been killed, with the toll continuing to rise as new bodies were found under the rubble.
- Iman Nafe’s joy at her husband Nael Barghouti’s expected release from Israeli prisons – under the ceasefire agreement that came into effect on Sunday – quickly turned to sorrow when she learned that his name was among those slated for exile from Palestinian territories.
Barghouti, 68, spent nearly 44 years in Israeli prisons, including 34 consecutive years, after being re-arrested in 2014 following his release in the 2011 Wafaa Al-Ahrar (Shalit) prisoner exchange deal. According to the Palestinian Prisoners Society, he holds the record for the longest imprisonment by Israel.
‘I felt immense happiness when I saw his name on the list published by the Israeli Ministry of Justice, which included hundreds of Palestinian detainees set to be released in the first phase of the agreement in exchange for 33 Israeli captives detained on October 7, 2023,’ Nafe said.
She added: ‘I spent days eagerly awaiting this announcement. I redecorated the house and hung pictures of him – some from when he was 18, others from his sixties – all taken inside prison. But the excitement evaporated when I realised my husband was among those to be exiled from Palestinian lands, as per the Israeli list.
‘Of course, I was deeply saddened. I had been waiting impatiently and never imagined that Nael would face a new punishment of being banished from his homeland. This is, I believe, the harshest punishment in history.’
Nafe further stated that the exile decision is ‘unacceptable to us. I’m certain Nael will refuse it and would prefer to remain in prison rather than be forced into exile. Imagine someone who has spent 44 years in prison being subjected to a new punishment of separation from his family, land, and home.’
The first phase of the ceasefire agreement, set to conclude within 42 days, includes the release of 33 Israeli captives in exchange for 1,900 Palestinian detainees. It coincides with a cessation of hostilities in Gaza.
Barghouti is on the release list, although he was sentenced to life in prison for allegedly killing an Israeli officer and carrying out attacks on Israeli targets.
Over 230 Palestinians serving life sentences are to be freed under the agreement, but they will be permanently exiled. While the destination remains unspecified, Hamas sources involved in the negotiations mentioned Turkey and Qatar as possibilities.
On Sunday, Al-Qassam Brigades released three Israeli women in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners, marking the first day of the ceasefire in Gaza.
Barghouti was first arrested in 1978 as a member of the Fatah movement. He was released in the 2011 Wafaa Al-Ahrar deal, which exchanged 1,027 Palestinian prisoners for a captured Israeli soldier held by Al-Qassam Brigades.
However, on June 18, 2014, after 32 months of freedom, Israeli forces re-arrested 70 freed prisoners from the 2011 deal following the kidnapping of three settlers in al-Khalil. Most of them, including Barghouti, had their original sentences reinstated.
Nafe herself was imprisoned in 1987 during the Palestinian Intifada on charges of resisting the occupation, serving 10 years. She recalled how Barghouti saw her on Israeli TV from his prison cell and decided to marry her upon his release.
‘I didn’t even know about it at the time. After I was released in 1997, his family approached me for marriage, but due to circumstances, it didn’t happen then. I had never met Nael before.
‘We finally met when he was released in 2011, and a month later, we were married. But we only lived together for 32 months before his re-arrest,’ she said.
‘Our wedding was a national celebration,’ Nafe reminisced. ‘Everyone was happy for us. It symbolised hope for reunion and freedom.’
After his release in 2011, Barghouti was placed under house arrest in his hometown of Kobar, north of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank. During this time, he tended to his garden, planting orange and olive trees. ‘I’ve been waiting for him to come home and eat from the trees he planted,’ Nafe said. ‘But now he’s 68 years old – this is the height of injustice.’