Israel-Hamas truce offers respite from violence — but Gaza's displaced just want to go home
Break in fighting does allow much-needed aid into war-torn enclave where 1.7 million have fled homes
The temporary truce agreement between Israel and Hamas has offered some relief for many in Gaza displaced from their homes during seven weeks of intense Israeli bombardments and ground battles in the besieged enclave, but the future is still uncertain.
Fighting between Israel and Hamas stopped Friday — the start of a four-day truce — for the first time since the Palestinian militant group led a surprise attack on Israel that killed roughly 1,200 people and saw 240 hostages taken, according to the Israeli government.
Israel then declared war on Hamas, which rules Gaza. Israeli airstrikes and ground troops have killed more than 14,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
The United Nations says roughly 1.7 million people have been displaced by the hostilities and Israeli orders to evacuate the northern half of the Gaza Strip.
But the pause in hostilities, which allow for Hamas to swap hostages in exchange for Israel releasing Palestinans detained in prison, doesn't mean civilians in Gaza can return to check and see if the homes they fled are still standing.
"What's the point of a truce if we can't go back," said Umm Fawzi Abu Shehadeh, a 59-year-old staying in a tent with her husband and two children. They were forced to leave their home in Rimal, near Gaza City, for Khan Younis in the territory's south.
She's distraught that her 80-year-old father-in-law died on Friday and they couldn't be with him.
"Who will bury him? His kids are here," she told CBC News freelance journalist Mohamed El Saife.
"It's unfair what's happening to us," she said. "We, the people, were thrown under the bus. What's our fault in this?"
Muhammad Abdel Bari also wishes to go back to his home in the Jabaliya refugee camp — an area pummeled by Israeli airstrikes claiming to target Hamas leaders and infrastructure – even if there's nothing left standing.
"If my home is destroyed, I'll pitch a tent over my home, on my land," said the 43-year-old.
He said he found some solace in the temporary truce and hopes it's extended even if he can't return to Jabaliya, which he left with only the clothes on his back.
"It's good in a sense that we feel hope for the kids. We feel stability," Bari said.
The aid that is now being let into Gaza will make a difference for Bari and others.
By the end of the truce's first day, 196 trucks of humanitarian aid carried food, water and medical supplies through the Rafah crossing. It was biggest such convoy into Gaza since the Hamas assault on Israel and Israel's subsequent bombardment of the territory, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said.
"Instead of suffering for a bag of flour, it will be available," he said. "As for the water, instead of us never finding [it], we will have it consistently if it is distributed properly."
Azmi Radwan, a 49-year-old from Gaza City, is hopeful the influx in aid will make the difficult days a little easier.
He just hopes it's consistent, he said as he sat by a makeshift stove fashioned out of a barrel with a wood fire inside.
But what he would really like to see is the truce turn into a lasting calm — not just an end to the fighting but promises that Gaza will be rebuilt.
"We were displaced [in] 1948 and in 1967," Radwan said. "In 2023, we don't accept [it] even if they erase all our children from the face of the planet. We do not accept under any circumstances being displaced a third time from Gaza."
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With files from Mohamed El Saife and Thomson Reuters| Translation by Yasmine Hassan