The residents of Gaza expressed their happiness when a ceasefire agreement was reached between Israel and Hamas

By Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Muhammad Salem

CAIRO/GAZA (Reuters) – Thousands of Palestinians took to the streets of Gaza as a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began on Sunday, some on holiday, others to visit the graves of relatives, many rushing to see what was left of their homes. .

“I feel alive again,” said Aya, a displaced woman from Gaza City who has been sheltering in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip for more than a year.

“I feel like I’ve found water to drink after being lost in the desert for 15 months,” she told Reuters via a chat app.

In the northern part of the state, where some of the heaviest Israeli airstrikes and fighting with the militants have taken place, drones show hundreds of people walking along a dusty road over a landscape of crushed concrete and twisted metal.

A displaced family returning from Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps, scours what’s left of their home and uses shovels to clear the rubble of a collapsed wall. Elsewhere, displaced residents piled their belongings onto rickshaws and trucks to travel home.

“We came in the morning… even before they announced the ceasefire,” said Amal Abu Ita, standing in the ruins of her home. “We came with the hope that we might get just one room, something simple, just a little shelter to keep us. But when we arrived, we found the situation as you can see—miserable.”

Armed Hamas fighters drove through the southern city of Khan Younis with cheers and chants despite a nearly three-hour delay in implementing a ceasefire agreement following a brutal 15-month conflict.

Hamas police in blue police uniforms have been deployed in some areas for months, trying to stay out of sight to prevent Israeli airstrikes.

People gathered to cheer the fighters “Peace be upon the Al-Qassam Brigades” – the armed wing of Hamas.

“All opposition factions will remain despite (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu,” one fighter told Reuters, referring to the armed wing.

“This cease-fire, God willing, is complete and comprehensive, and even if it is, there can be no return to war.”

The ceasefire came into effect after a nearly three-hour delay, ending a war that has brought seismic political change to the Middle East and offered hope to Gaza’s 2.3 million people, many of whom have been repeatedly displaced.

At least 13 people were killed in attacks in the district during a delay in Israeli military strikes, according to the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service. No attacks have been reported since it took effect at 11:15 a.m. (0915 GMT).

“We are now waiting for the day to return home to Gaza City,” Aya said. “Injured or not, it doesn’t matter, the nightmare of death and hunger is over.”

Aid trucks entered Gaza

The streets of the devastated Gaza City in the northern part of the territory were crowded with people waving Palestinian flags and taking pictures on their mobile phones.

Ahmed Abu Ayham, a 40-year-old resident of Gaza City, who took refuge with his family in Khan Yunis, said the destruction in his hometown was “terrible.” The ceasefire may have saved lives, but it was not time for celebrations.

Abu Ayham said through the same app, “We are in pain, we are in great pain and it is time to hug each other and cry.”

Many memorable relatives and friends were killed during the war.

“We are happy to win and return (home),” said Zakia al-Masri, who lives in Khan Yunis. But it’s not perfect happiness…we’ve lost a lot of people.

Ahmed Abu Mohsen and his family, who survived the Israeli army’s May uprising in a pocket of the southern town of Rafah, returned to their abandoned home and were carried from the back of an open white truck. Garment bags, jerrycans and mattresses.

“It’s an indescribable feeling of absolute joy,” he said. “But there are people who don’t feel the same way when they come back to find their home and neighborhood completely wiped out.”

The much-anticipated ceasefire could help end the Gaza war, which Israeli officials say began after Hamas, which controls the tiny coastal territory, attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people.

Israel’s response has reduced much of Gaza to rubble and killed nearly 47,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza-based health officials.

In the hours before the ceasefire agreement took effect, long trucks loaded with fuel and relief supplies lined up at border crossings. The World Food Program said they began crossing on Sunday morning.

The agreement calls for the first six-week ceasefire to allow 600 trucks of aid into Gaza every day, including 50 trucks of fuel. Half of the aid trucks are being sent to the north, and experts have warned of famine.

“The war is over, but life will not be better because of the destruction and loss,” Aya said. But at least I hope there will be no bloodshed for women and children.

(Reporting and writing by Nidal Al-Mughrabi; Additional reporting by Mohamed Salem in Gaza; Editing by Helen Popper, Philip Fletcher, Ross Russell and Sharon Singleton)