Palestinians Hope for a Permanent Ceasefire in the Gaza Strip
(AWP) - After a few days of relative calm during the temporary truce, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip expressed their hopes that it will lead to a permanent ceasefire allowing them to return to their normal lives as they were before the outbreak of war on October 7.
Rafah resident Mahmoud Abu Mashayekh said that the temporary truce was not long enough to enable them to find basic household necessities.
He explained, "We were not able to fulfil the household’s needs in full, because not enough quantities entered through the [Rafah] crossing to meet people’s needs, and we hope, God willing for a complete ceasefire.
Another Rafah resident, Malak Ayman, is hopeful that a permanent ceasefire agreement will be reached so that Gazans can return to their normal lives.
She said, "My family and I went out looking for all the necessities we lacked. We searched all the stores in Rafah, and only found basic things, because only basic things entered the crossing. God willing, there will be a complete ceasefire and we will return to our lives as they were before."
Rafah resident Bilal Saafan says an end to the war is needed to allow enough aid to enter the besieged strip, whose residents face severe hardship.
He said, "We hope that this war ends, and that the Rafah crossing will be open around the clock, and that aid, gas and fuel will be brought in, because today, we are living a very miserable life and are suffering so much."
Yahia Hammad, another resident, called on both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas to assume their responsibilities in looking after Palestinians’ needs.
He said, "We hope that the Palestinian Authority will stand up to its responsibilities, and we hope that our brothers in the Hamas movement will stand up to their responsibilities towards the suffering of the people. People need support and Arab solidarity towards our humanitarian cause in these difficult circumstances that our people are living through."
Yesterday, Hamas confirmed that it had agreed, through mediators Qatar and Egypt, to extend the temporary humanitarian truce, which ended at 7:00 a.m. local time (5:00 a.m. GMT) today, for two additional days under the same conditions.
Majid al-Ansari, spokesman for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, said today that the next 48 hours will see diligent efforts to further extend the truce.
On Tuesday, the Al-Qahera News channel quoted an Egyptian source as saying that Egyptian, Qatari, US, and Israeli officials will convene in Doha to discuss a continued truce in Gaza.