Our Next Four Days In Gaza: Digging For The Dead, Hunting For Food, Hoping Ceasefire Sticks
The child was killed along with his mother and two cousins when an Israeli airstrike flattened several houses in the town in the early days of the war. They found three bodies, but Omar’s was still under rubble, Abu Radwan said.
Screaming inside
His is one of about 6,500 Palestinian bodies that authorities believe are under the rubble or still in the streets, especially in the northern part of Gaza.
“We couldn’t recover him at the time,” Radwan said of Omar, adding that he will brave the risks to reach the area which is encircled by Israeli tanks. “I am desperate for this truce. I am screaming from inside. I feel helpless.”
The mourning husband and father is concerned that the four-day truce wouldn’t be enough for him and many others who lost their loved ones under the rubble. He hopes that politicians can extend the truce for a couple of more days or reach a permanent ceasefire. “We are tired,” he said.
A first pause
The ceasefire deal was brokered by Qatar, the U.S. and Egypt and announced Wednesday. It came after weeks of concerted indirect negotiations between the warring parties.
Set to start on Friday morning, the ceasefire would be the first pause of fighting since the war started on October 7. The conflict was triggered by Hamas’ unprecedented raid on southern Israel, which was quickly followed by a massive Israeli air assault then ground invasion of Gaza.
I couldn’t find and bury them.
Hamas’ attack killed more than 1,200 people, including women and children, according to Israeli authorities. The militant group also captured some 240 Israelis and foreign passport holders and took them hostages inside Gaza.
In Gaza, more than 14,000 people have been killed, including about 6,000 children and 4,000 women, said the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, which cited figures from Gaza authorities. Thousands of others were wounded in the conflict.
Dedicated to kids
Mohamed Abu Hajar also plans to return to his home in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza to resume digging the rubble for the body of his two children: Ayham, 7, and Samer 12.
Both children were killed when an Israeli airstrike struck their home eight days ago, the man told the Saudi-owned, London-based Asharq Al-Awsat daily.
“I couldn’t find and bury them,” he was quoted as saying. “I will dedicate the whole truce to them.”
We have nothing to do with all of this.
In the south, some displaced people say they would search for shelters, where they can find food and water for their children.
“We don’t have anything to feed the kids,” said Amal al-Sheikh, who fled Gaza City earlier this month. The mother of five children said they couldn’t find a shelter and they have camped outside a hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis for the past three weeks. “Our life was ruined,” she said.
Under pressure
She is concerned that the war would resume after the truce, saying that people are desperate for a permanent ceasefire.
“We want this war to stop, so we can return to our homes ... we have nothing to do with all of this,” she said.
Taher al-Nouno, a Hamas media adviser, said in an interview with Al Jazeera that indirect negotiations would continue to establish a permanent ceasefire.
Israel’s government, meanwhile, said it would resume fighting after the truce. It has agreed on the ceasefire under mounting pressure from the families of the hostages, and U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration that advocated for a pause in the fighting to help release hostages.
“The war is continuing,” declared Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a news conference late Wednesday, “until we achieve all of our goals: return all of the hostages, eliminate Hamas.”
