Palestinians took to the streets Sunday to celebrate and returned to the rubble of their bombed homes, while the Red Cross went to rescue the first hostages released under the ceasefire agreement that halted fighting in the Gaza Strip .
The truce finally took effect after a three-hour delay, during which Israeli forces bombed Gaza from above in a final assault, killing 13 people, according to Palestinian health officials.
A team from the International Committee of the Red Cross was on its way to collect the first hostages to be released under the Hamas ceasefire agreement, an official involved in the operation told Reuters.
“I feel like I have finally found water to drink after 15 months lost in the desert. I feel alive again,” Deir Al-Aya, a displaced woman from the city of Gaza, told Reuters via a chat app. is sheltering in place. Balah, in the center of the Gaza Strip, more than a year ago.
In the territory’s north, where some of the most intense airstrikes and clashes with Israeli militants have taken place, hundreds of people made their way across a devastated landscape of rubble and twisted metal.
Armed Hamas fighters swept through the southern town of Khan Younis, with crowds cheering and chanting, despite a nearly three-hour delay in implementing the ceasefire agreement after 15 months of devastating conflict.
Hamas police officers, dressed in blue uniforms, took up positions in some areas after months of trying to remain hidden to avoid Israeli air strikes.
People who gathered to applaud the fighters chanted “Greetings to the Al-Qassam Brigades,” the armed wing of Hamas.
The ceasefire agreement took effect after a nearly three-hour delay, halting a war that has brought seismic political changes to the Middle East and giving hope to Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, many of whom have been displaced several times.
The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said Israeli military strikes killed at least 13 people across the enclave. No further attacks were reported after it went into effect at 11:15 am (6:15 am Brasilia time).
“Now we are waiting for the day when we return to our home in Gaza City,” Aya said. “With or without damage, it doesn’t matter, the nightmare of death and hunger is over.”
ENTRY OF RELIEF TRUCKS IN GAZA
The streets of the destroyed Gaza City, in the north of the territory, were already occupied by groups of people waving the Palestinian flag and filming the scenes with cell phones. Several carts loaded with household items rolled down a road strewn with rubble and debris.
Ahmed Abu Ayham, 40, a Gaza City resident and refugee with his family in Khan Younis, said the scene of destruction in his hometown was “terrible”, adding that while the ceasefire may have saved lives , it wasn’t like that. It was time for celebrations.
“We are suffering, suffering a lot, and it’s time to hug each other and cry,” Abu Ayham said via the same app.
The long-awaited ceasefire agreement could help end the Gaza war, which began after Hamas, which controls the small coastal territory, attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, according to Israeli authorities.
According to Gaza health officials, Israel’s response has reduced much of Gaza to rubble and killed around 47,000 Palestinians.
Long lines of trucks carrying fuel and humanitarian aid lined up at border crossings in the hours before the ceasefire came into force. The World Food Program said the crossing began Sunday morning.
The agreement stipulates that 600 humanitarian trucks can enter Gaza every day of the first six weeks of the ceasefire, including 50 carrying fuel. Half of the 600 aid trucks will be delivered to northern Gaza, where experts have warned that famine is imminent.
“The war is over, but life will not be better because of the destruction and losses we have suffered,” Aya said. “But at least I hope there will be no more bloodshed of women and children.”
Source: Terra
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