Children walk amongst puddles of water in the makeshift refugee camp in Rafah. Photo: AFP.
The seven-day-long temporary truce in November left deep scars in the consciousness of the people in Gaza. Indeed, the occupation returned from it more bloody and brutal, and expanded the scope of its ground operations, displacing hundreds of thousands of citizens from their refugee camps several times.
Today, amidst the ongoing political movement in Cairo and Doha, Gazans eagerly await news hinting at an imminent agreement leading to a ceasefire. This anticipation is palpable, especially in light of the intensification of the humanitarian crises, specifically in northern Gaza.
Ahmed Qadra, a displaced person from the Al-Jarn neighborhood in Jabalia City now residing in Jabalia refugee camp, stopped the Al-Akhbar correspondent in the street, saying: “Please deliver our message, we are dying of hunger and diseases, but everyone must understand that we do not want a temporary ceasefire. After the previous temporary truce, we experience nothing but torment. We want a complete and comprehensive cessation of war and allowing people to return from the south to the north.”
In fact, there is a consensus on this position. Everyone feels that it will be catastrophic to grant the enemy enough time to review the battlefield and refine its strategies to develop even bloodier plans than before. There is also no desire to build a false hope in days of calm that the war is over.
Haji Umm Imad, the mother of three martyrs, and with more than thirty martyred family members, met Al-Akhbar at the shelter center in Yemen Al-Saeed Hospital. She started by saying: “My dear, the leaders in Egypt said they are agreeing on a truce… Tell them that the people only want an end to the war completely. We want to bury our children who are under the rubble of our homes, we want to see who is alive and who is dead.”
Mahmoud Abu Mariam, a government teacher, shared his opinion about the Resistance’s condition of a complete ceasefire and the withdrawal of tanks before talking about any prisoner exchange deal. He believes that “Israel” is under internal pressure regarding its prisoners of war. Retrieving these prisoners through negotiations has become a priority for Netanyahu after he failed to do so militarily. But he added that “Giving up the prisoners means giving the enemy’s army free reign to multiply its massacres, it means more killing and annihilation without any limitations… Therefore the Resistance factions should stick to their unanimous position of not negotiating under fire.”
In the streets, there is great concern about whether residents of the north who were displaced to the south will be able to return. There is fear that this issue will become a permanent or a long-term method of blackmail. Therefore, there is a lot of talk about the expected possibility of returning.
Um Yasser is a mother of seven children who were all displaced to the southern part of the Gaza Strip. She chose to stay in the north with her husband who swore on the holy scriptures that death is easier for him than migration and humiliation. She asked us: “Will they be allowed to return? When?” She said “Our demand is that our people in Khan Yunis and Rafah return to their homes, even if the houses are destroyed, we will live in a tent if we have to. But without that, there is no value to any ceasefire agreement.”
Last Thursday evening, the spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Obaida, made it clear in a statement: “There are no exchange deals or other proposals that we can accept before the aggression against our people is completely stopped.” He concluded his speech by saying “This aggression will soon be broken, and this aggression will fail, by the power of God, and our people will emerge with their heads held high, crowned with dignity and glory, and every drop of blood shed by a martyr or wounded in this holy war is a witness to victory, the great conquest, and the coming liberation, God willing.”
(Al-Akhbar) by Yousef Fares
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/DZ/JRE
Yousef Fares
Yousef Fares is a Palestinian reporter in Gaza. He is an author at Al-Akhbar News and he regularly posts updates on his telegram channel.
