Civilians in Gaza anxiously awaited a break after 15 months of relentless war on Friday as Israel’s government met in Jerusalem to finalize an interim ceasefire deal with Hamas.
As they waited, Israel pounded the strip with airstrikes, killing at least 113 people since the deal was first agreed in principle on Wednesday night, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Civil Defense Agency.
The deal, finalized on Friday afternoon, is set to come into force on Sunday, leaving just over 24 hours for Gazans to wait for a respite.
“Time runs slower than ever,” said Dr. Abdallah Shabir, 27, an emergency physician at Baptist Hospital in Gaza City. “You can lose your life at any moment,” he said. “Sitting at home, walking down the street – no warning.”
Dr Shabir was on duty at the hospital on Wednesday evening when news of the ceasefire agreement broke. There was a brief moment of joy, he said, but less than an hour separated the announcement from the start of a wave of airstrikes that sent a flood of dead and wounded into Baptist.
Every staff member was invited. “It was as bad as we’ve ever seen it,” said Dr. Shabir. “Severe injuries, severe burns. Lots of dead, of course.”
Among the dead brought in Thursday was colleague Hala Abu Ahmed, a 27-year-old internal medicine specialist described by two colleagues at Baptist as a dedicated and promising young doctor and a kind person.
She worked tirelessly and under extreme pressure for 15 months, since the beginning of the war, said Dr. Ahmad Eliwah, head of the emergency department, was killed after a ceasefire was agreed.
Among the millions displaced in the belt, many waited on Friday for the moment to return home for the first time since the beginning of the war. Many will find bombed wasteland instead of their homes.
“My house is completely destroyed, the building is gone,” said Sabreen Doshan, 45, who owns a street kiosk and lived in an apartment block in Gaza City.
Doshan has lost 17 members of her extended family since the war began, she said. She was ready to leave Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, where she lived in a tent, towards the ruins of her home.
“Even if I have to put a tent on top of the rubble, it will be fine, because I will be home,” she said. “Nowhere can satisfy me now but home.”
The destruction of the Gaza Strip is enormous. According to a recent analysis by the United Nations Satellite Center, 69% of all buildings and 68% of roads have been destroyed or damaged since December. According to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, around 46,700 people were killed.
Israel moved to destroy Hamas in Gaza in October 2023, after the group attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.
For Gazans, the joy of a long-awaited ceasefire has been tempered by the scale of death and destruction. “Thank God, it’s a mixed feeling,” said Wael Muhammad, a freelance journalist living in a refugee camp in central Gaza.
“From one moment to another, from joy to pain,” he said. I am happy that the flood of blood will stop, but we live in misery.
As of Friday afternoon, the cease-fire agreement was moving through the Israeli political system for final approval. This paves the way for an initial group of three hostages to be released as early as Sunday, in exchange for around 95 Palestinian prisoners.
But the exchange, which will take place over the next six weeks, is fraught with the possibility of collapse.
“The biggest challenge is whether the ceasefire will be successfully implemented,” said Juliette Touma, director of communications for the UN refugee agency UNRWA.
“If it is, the challenge before us remains absolutely enormous. The vast majority of shelters are overcrowded. Many simply live in the open or in makeshift facilities. They lack basic necessities like warm clothing. I wouldn’t call these living conditions, they are not conditions suitable for human beings beings.”
In Gaza on Friday, some were focused on Sunday and whether they would be able to get that respite without the deal falling apart.
“We are afraid of any change, any movement,” said Khalil Nateel, 30, whose house in Jabalia in the very north of the Gaza Strip was destroyed at the beginning of the war.
“The news is coming,” said Nateel from a shelter in central Gaza. – We are watching and waiting.
