DEIR EL-BALAH: Crowds of Gazans chanted and embraced on Wednesday as news spread that a ceasefire and hostage release deal had been reached between Israel and Hamas aimed at ending more than 15 months of war in the Palestinian territory.
After a US official and a source close to the negotiations first revealed the agreement, Israel cautioned that several points “remain unresolved” that it hoped would be resolved.
But celebrations were already underway in Gaza, where AFP journalists saw crowds of people hugging and taking photos to mark the announcement.
“I can’t believe that this nightmare of more than a year is finally coming to an end. We have lost so many people, we’ve lost everything,” said Randa Sameeh, a 45-year-old displaced from Gaza City to the Nuseirat Camp in the centre of the territory.
“We need a lot of rest. As soon as the truce begins, I will go to the cemetery to visit my brother and family members. We buried them in Deir el-Balah cemetery without proper graves. We will build them new graves and write their names on them.”
Outside Deir al-Balah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where so many of the war’s casualties have been taken, hundreds of Palestinians gathered to chant, sing and wave flags, AFPTV footage showed.