Deir el-Balah, Gaza – The word is a boring wish in Gaza, as much a source of searing disappointment as the ultimate symbol of hope.
It is also on the lips of protesters around the world who have been demonstrating for months against the carnage of Israel’s war in Gaza.
The word is “ceasefire,” an end to the Israeli onslaught that has ravaged the Gaza Strip for seven months, killing at least 34,683 people and wounding at least 78,018 others. This was a protracted Israeli retaliation for a Hamas-led attack on its territory on October 17.
Several rounds of ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas in recent months have failed to end the bloodshed or bring about even a temporary pause, as was the case last November.
The reason for the stalled talks is that Hamas wants a permanent end to the war and assurances that Israel will not invade Rafah, the refuge for nearly 1.5 million Palestinians.
In ongoing negotiations in Cairo, Egypt, Israel has only agreed to a 40-day pause in fighting and said it will continue its Rafah offensive regardless of whether an agreement is reached.
A potential ceasefire keeps Internally Displaced Person (IDP) Abeer al-Namrouti glued to her phone day and night, while the displaced Gaza resident often falls asleep with news broadcasts still playing near her.
“I will continue to listen until I hear the word ‘ceasefire’,” al-Namrouti told Al Jazeera.
The 39-year-old, who has eight children, left the town of al-Qarara in Khan Younis after ammunition hit and destroyed her home. She and her husband were also injured in the attack and had to undergo weeks of treatment, which her husband is still undergoing.
From the tent where they now live in Deir el-Balah in the center of the Gaza Strip, she makes her way to the nearby Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital to collect the medication her husband still needs and administers it to him an infusion. It’s a difficult life, but she remains determined.
Al-Namrouti is hoping for a ceasefire this time.
“[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is holding things up – every time something moves, he puts obstacles in place [place]but this time I am more optimistic than in the past,” she said.
Although months of shuttle diplomacy have so far failed, the family will return to the city where they lived if a deal is reached.
“I know we won’t have that [even] A tent back there or something, but all that matters is that we’re on the land that’s ours.
“I’ll go back there, put up a tent and just stay,” she concluded adamantly.
“This has never happened before”
Wael el-Nabahin, 48, came to Deir el-Balah with his family from Bureij and set up a somewhat unusual tent. The family has a television to watch the news and even a washing machine.
“I wanted my family to have a little bit of well-being and not live in a terrible catastrophe. We constantly watch the news to see what’s going on,” el-Nabahin told Al Jazeera.
But the father of four is skeptical about an imminent ceasefire agreement.
“Ceasefires have been talked about before, but so far it has never happened,” he said.
However, should such a deal happen, he is determined to return to Bureij, even though his house burned down.
“If there is a ceasefire, the first thing we would do is take our tents and go back to where our houses were. We will settle there,” said el-Nabahin.
It is this fatigue that Louise Wateridge observed among the Palestinians she worked with in Rafah. The spokesman for the UN Palestinian refugee agency, UNWRA, says a ceasefire is the minimum demand of war-weary Palestinians.
“People here are so tired. There is constant fear, constant displacement. The only hope they have is a ceasefire…No matter who you are, the feeling here is that we need an immediate ceasefire.”
“It will end, world war or not, it will end”
What would matter to Mahmoud el-Khatib would be simply to stay alive and see the end of the war.
“My house was destroyed, but it’s not about the house or a car or whatever, it’s more about how we see now that just surviving is a victory,” el-Khatib told Al Jazeera.
The 55-year-old father of eight was displaced from Juhor ad-Dik in recent months and had to move between Deir el-Balah and Rafah in the south.
“We are all optimistic that there will be a ceasefire and we can return to our homeland, to the north, to where we belong,” he said.
“If I felt safe, everything would be fine, even if I was in a simple tent.”
And while many are closely following the news in hopes of a deal, Raed Abu Khousa had to take a break. Daily monitoring of the war took a toll on his mental health.
The 45-year-old father of eight has been displaced from Bureij for four months after his house was badly damaged.
Although he now lives in a tent, which he says is becoming increasingly difficult as summer approaches, Khousa is cautiously optimistic about a ceasefire agreement.
“I’m not particularly optimistic, but it feels like we’re a little closer. And if it doesn’t work this time, we will be closer to a solution,” he told Al Jazeera.
“It will end, world war or not, it will end. As Muslims, we believe that God will bring us success and we are expected to be patient and wait for Him.”
