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As a cease-fire was reached Sunday in Gaza, possibly ending the longest and deadliest conflict in a century of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, two men used similar metaphors to describe the his feelings.
“The weight off my chest has been lifted,” said Ziad Obeid, a civil servant in Gaza who was displaced several times during the war. “We survived.”
“The rock in my heart is being removed,” said former Israeli politician Dov Weissglas. “We want to see the hostages home, time.”
Both of them had “buts”.
Mr. Obeid has not seen his damaged home in northern Gaza for more than a year. What, he wondered, was the damage? Who will rebuild the destroyed Gaza? And will Hamas still manage it?
Mr. Weissglas was concerned about the condition of the hostages due to be gradually released over the next few weeks from the dank part of the province. And he grumbled at their exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, many of whom are serving life sentences for Israeli attacks. “There is relief,” he said, “wrapped in caution, fear and concern.”
It was an apt summary of the mood on both sides of Sunday’s divorce, as Israelis and Palestinians expressed dubious jubilation.
For the Palestinians, the truce is meant to provide at least six weeks without strikes in Gaza. This provides a window for Gazans to take the first steps towards recovery; to find relatives still buried in the rubble; and admit the killing of more than 45,000 people, both civilians and combatants, whose bodies have already been counted by the health authorities in Gaza. Cheers were sent across the province on Sunday, as rescue workers threw confetti; a crowd dancing and singing among the rubble; and the journalist symbolically took off his jacket.
For the Israelis, the deal allows for the gradual release of at least 33 hostages taken during the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel — an attack that killed up to 1,200 people and triggered the response 15 months of destruction of Israel. For the hostages released alive, this means freedom after 470 days of captivity. For Israelis in general, many of whom have been crushed by the remnants of guilt, it offers a qualified catharsis. In a display of that spirit, a friend of one of the first three hostages freed on Sunday was photographed jumping for joy at the news of their freedom.
But the details of the deal between Israel and Hamas mean both sides still face considerable uncertainty about how the next six months will play out, let alone whether the tentative deal will last beyond that. . Even the first phase started hours behind schedule on Sunday morning, amid a dispute over which hostages would be released in the afternoon. At that time, according to the authorities in Gaza, many people were still killed and wounded by the Israeli strikes.
Today, Israel still controls large areas of Gaza and has not yet agreed to a full withdrawal, preventing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, like Mr. Obeid, will not return to his home in northern Gaza. It remains to be seen whether the Israeli military will withdraw completely.
“What happens after 42 days?” Mr. Weissglas said. “No one knows.”
Palestinians also remain uncertain about the fate of thousands of Gazans who have been held incommunicado during the war and may not be released during future negotiations. Reema Diab, a housewife in central Gaza, still has no way of finding her husband, a horse trainer, who she says was taken to Israel for questioning in December 2023 and has not been heard from since.
“I am very relieved that the bleeding is about to end, but my heart hurts,” said Ms. Diab. “His absence is unthinkable.”
Across the border, Israeli journalists sounded somber, with one, Ben Caspit, describing a mixture of joy and sorrow, “inextricably linked.” He wrote that Sunday is a day of reckoning, not celebration, and stressed that Israel needs to acknowledge the extent of its failure on October 7, 2023.
“Let us be silent for a moment, let us examine our conscience, let us suffer, let us think of those who were killed and murdered and burned and raped and kidnapped,” Mr. Caspit wrote in the right-leaning Maariv . daily newspaper.
Israelis have feared the fate of some 65 hostages who may not be freed in Gaza if the deal collapses after six weeks. Likewise, there are widespread fears that the first 33 hostages to be released in the next 42 days may be emotionally or physically ill, or even dead. And in general, Israelis complained that the freedom of the hostages was obtained in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, including some convicted of major terrorist attacks as well as teenagers who have not yet been charged.
Palestinians consider the soon-to-be-released prisoners to be freedom fighters and political prisoners. For Israelis, it will be a psychological blow to see “this group of murderers released,” Mr. Weissglas said.
The video of Hamas fighters triumphantly re-emerging from hiding was also a blow to the Israelis, who had hoped the war would completely destroy the army’s capabilities. For many Gazans it was a cause for celebration, but for others it was a reminder of lingering doubts about Gaza’s future governance.
Mr. Obeid works for the Palestinian Authority, which lost power to Hamas in Gaza 18 years ago but still employs some civil servants in Gaza, including Mr. Obeid, and now hopes to play a bigger role in Gaza after the war. Mr. Obeid said he had been in contact with the leaders of the West Bank authorities in recent days to plan possible clean-up and reconstruction operations in Gaza. It is unclear, he said, whether these efforts will materialize while Hamas remains in power for the next six weeks, or even beyond.
It is also unclear when Israel will allow Mr. Obeid, who fled Egypt last year after being displaced three times from Gaza, to return home.
But all this can be considered in time, said Mr. Obeid.
Now, he said, “I can breathe oxygen again.”
Bilal Shbair contributed reports from Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, and Aaron Boxerman from Jerusalem.
