Celebrations have erupted throughout the Gaza Strip after a much-awaited ceasefire got here into impact following 15 months of warfare that turned a lot of the coastal Palestinian enclave to rubble.
The ceasefire got here into impact at 11:15am native time (09:15 GMT) on Sunday after Hamas handed over a listing of three female captives to be launched as a part of the deal to Israel by way of mediators.
“My pleasure is past measure,” mentioned Gaza resident Om Salah.
“From the second they introduced the ceasefire, I shortly packed all my issues as a result of I’m able to go to Gaza Metropolis. My kids are extraordinarily completely satisfied to go and see our households, relations and our lands,” she informed Al Jazeera.
“Right here, we’re at all times scared and anxious, however again dwelling we shall be very completely satisfied, and pleasure will come again to our lives .”
A younger Palestinian man mentioned, “Everyone seems to be completely satisfied, significantly the youngsters.”
“Hopefully, the Israelis is not going to violate it [ceasefire] within the subsequent few days,” he informed Al Jazeera.
He mentioned all he wished to do now was full his training. “There have been a great deal of desires destroyed throughout this genocide.”
Gaza’s well being employees and rescuers have been additionally seen celebrating in the streets. Movies shared on-line, and verified by Al Jazeera, confirmed a number of civil defence groups chanting anthems and elevating victory indicators.
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from exterior Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah, mentioned there have been “no violations reported because the ceasefire took impact”.
“There have been no extra bombs, no extra fighter jets, and no extra drones. The one sound of gunfire we hear is from celebrations within the streets – gunshots and fireworks have been frequent,” he mentioned.
Earlier than the ceasefire got here into impact, Israeli forces killed no less than 19 extra Palestinians and wounded dozens of others on Sunday, taking the overall deaths within the 15-month genocide to just about 47,000. Palestinian and rights teams say the precise dying toll could possibly be a lot larger.
Not less than 1,139 individuals have been killed in Israel through the Hamas-led assaults on October 7, 2023, and about 250 have been taken captive.
Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Khan Younis, mentioned Palestinians from the southern metropolis of Rafah described the destruction attributable to Israel there as “large”.
“They didn’t even realise the place their neighbourhoods have been,” she mentioned.
“However, individuals are very completely satisfied. You see everybody smiling, you see everybody chanting, and a lot of the Palestinians are saying: ‘We made it alive out of this warfare.’”
‘Want to return’
Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud reported that within the hospital courtyard the place he was reporting from, Palestinian households had began to dismantle their tents and head again to their properties they have been compelled to evacuate attributable to relentless Israeli bombings.
“What we’re witnessing right here is households excitedly gathering their belongings – no matter they managed to gather throughout their keep on the hospital. There may be a lot pleasure on their faces as they depart the hospital gates,” he added.
Anwar, a displaced Palestinian man residing in Khan Younis who didn’t give his final title, mentioned he hoped to return to Rafah regardless of reviews that his dwelling had been destroyed.
“I’ll go there and I’ll see to discover a place the place I can arrange a tent to stay with my eight-member household,” he informed Al Jazeera. “I would like to return to my metropolis. I would like to return to the place I used to be born.”
Anwar mentioned the months of warfare have been like a “nightmare”. “It was actually a nightmare, as if we [were] dreaming after which we received up once more,” Anwar mentioned.
He mentioned he and his household lived in flimsy tents with out sufficient meals or water, and that costs for items have been “scarily excessive”.
Nour Saqqa, a displaced Palestinian girl from Gaza Metropolis, mentioned she feels an “overwhelming combination of feelings”.
“We haven’t been in a position to really feel utterly relieved, not solely due to how disturbing these 15 months have been, but additionally as a result of ceasefire itself – the truth that it has been fragmented relatively than introduced and applied abruptly,” Saqqa informed Al Jazeera in Rafah.
Saqqa mentioned the actual fact she and different Palestinians from Gaza Metropolis are nonetheless not allowed to return to their properties within the first section of the ceasefire is inflicting the inhabitants “much more psychological stress”.
“We’re continually residing by way of this uncertainty and anxiousness that even this aid is just not utterly full.”
