Families in the rain-soaked Gaza Strip describe feeling relieved and hopeful as they watched news of a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, while for some they felt completely abandoned.
There is a general sense of frustration in the central city of Deir el Bala, where people are exhausted by nearly 14 months of relentless Israeli attacks.
“We are glad that our brothers in Lebanon have reached a ceasefire, but they are waiting for their own ceasefire,” several people who spoke to Al Jazeera on Wednesday said.
The people of Gaza have endured hundreds of times more than they could endure, they said.
‘What about us?’
When Maysaa Khalil, who became a refugee from Gaza City’s Zeitoun district to Khan Younis in southern Gaza a year ago, heard the news from her husband, she immediately asked: “What about us?” .
“Why not stop both wars together as long as they are started by the same party, namely Israel?” she asked.
“Of course we are happy for Lebanon, but we feel forgotten,” she added.
Meanwhile, Hamedi, from the northern town of Beit Hanoon, said he was optimistic.
“I think the initial phase (of the ceasefire in Gaza) will begin in the next three or four days,” he said from a crude tent shelter in a camp run by the United Nations for some of Gaza’s two million people. Refugees in Deir el Bala.
His friend Fadi expressed his optimistic mood this way: “(Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu won. He signed a ceasefire with Hezbollah. The next step will be Gaza.”
“He can negotiate more easily now,” he said of the tedious peace talks in Cairo and Doha that have been going on for almost as long as the war. “I’m not sure what progress will be made in the next few days, but probably within the next few weeks.”
Hussein, who works for an aid organization and is originally from a village in the northern Gaza Strip, took a more cautious stance.
“I don’t know,” he said. “We had no idea what the war would be like. We never guessed how bad it would be. “I don’t think we’re prepared to guess when it will end.”
“It is true that many people are now feeling hopeful that a ceasefire in Gaza may be possible. But others feel completely abandoned,” he said of the halt in Hezbollah operations launched to support Gaza.
As the situation in the lockdown area continues to worsen, he said, “some people are feeling completely alone, as if the world has forgotten them.”
‘The reality in Gaza is different’
On Wednesday night, while a ceasefire was being finalized, Israel attacked a school and nearby areas in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 15 people and wounding many more.
“Throughout last night, there was no stopping the sound of Israeli attacks on several parts of the central region and Gaza Strip. “This means Israel is still continuing the war in Gaza.” said Mohamed Ismail, one of the thousands of refugees who have moved from northern Gaza to Deir el Bala.
He added that Lebanon’s ceasefire announcement could signal further escalation in Gaza.
“The reality in Gaza is completely different,” he said. “Israel still wants to implement more of its plans, and there appears to be no real political or international will to stop the war, especially in the United States.”
As temperatures dropped, rain began to fall in Gaza, drenching the fabric tents of refugees crowded into poorly equipped camps. Others driven from their homes are living in schools that have been turned into shelters, many of which are run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
“I can’t find any plastic,” Hussein said, explaining that Israel had blocked entry into the Gaza Strip, claiming it could be used for military purposes.
Hussein could not have imagined what military uses plastic sheets could have.
“If you can find one, it costs about 500 shekels ($136). “Tents require three or four plastic sheets, so families are instead forced to use fabric that offers little or no protection from the cold or rain,” he said.
The situation in the northern Gaza Strip, under siege by Israel since early October, has been described as “apocalyptic” by UN officials.
excrement on the street
Israel destroyed almost all of Gaza’s infrastructure in the first six months of the war, forcing refugees to bury sewage in the now-soaked land.
“You can smell it everywhere,” Hussein said of the excrement now flowing freely along the streets.
“Children should play there. “It’s truly amazing.”
Netanyahu, who is currently under an international arrest warrant for war crimes, gave no indication that Israel’s war would end when he visited Gaza in mid-November.
“We are destroying the military power of Hamas in a very impressive way,” he said in a video released after the visit.
He then offered a $5 million reward for the rescue of the remaining prisoners held in Gaza, which has yet to come to fruition even though Israeli forces have killed more than 44,000 people in the Gaza Strip.
Among the charges cited in the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, are “the war crime of starvation as a method of war.”
