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Palestinians struggle to live amid Israel’s attacks
(AL-JAZEERA) Near a burned-out car that had been targeted in front of their home, Faiq Ajour stood with other family members cleaning up scattered debris and shattered glass.
Faiq had been on his way to buy a few items from a nearby vegetable stall when the Israeli strike hit on Saturday.
“I survived by a miracle. I had just crossed the street,” he told Al Jazeera. The Palestinian described his shock – and his fear that it was his house that had been hit by the Israeli attack.
Raghda Obeid with three of her children in front of the tent that currently houses them in Gaza City [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]
Israel has repeatedly attacked Gaza since that ceasefire began, accusing the Palestinian group Hamas of ceasefire violations. Hamas denies that, and Palestinians point out that it is Israel that has used overwhelming force since the ceasefire began, violating it 500 times, and killing more than 342 civilians, including 67 children.
The five killed in Gaza City’s al-Abbas area, where Faiq lives, were among 24 killed on Saturday across the Gaza Strip by Israel.
“This is a nightmare, not a ceasefire,” Faiq said. “In a single moment after some calm, life turns as if it’s a war again.”
“You see body parts, smoke, shattered glass, killed people, ambulances. Scenes we still haven’t healed from and that haven’t left our memories.”
‘Lost hope in everything’
Faiq, 29 years old and originally from eastern Gaza City’s Tuffah neighbourhood, has suffered immensely during the war. He described losing 30 members of his extended family in February 2024, including his parents and his brother’s children, after an Israeli strike on a house they were all staying in. The strike severely injured his wife, forcing doctors to amputate one of her fingers.
“My mother and father were killed, my brother’s son, my aunt, my cousins … the whole family was gone,” Faiq recalled.
Faiq has since moved his family across Gaza City and to central Gaza to escape Israeli forces, all in search of “a safety that doesn’t exist”, as he puts it.
Since October, he has been trying to adapt to what he calls “the so-called ceasefire”, but says there is still no safety.
“Every few days, there’s a wave of bombardment and targeted strikes, and everything is turned upside down without warning.”
“We are exhausted,” he added. “Life in Gaza is 99 percent dead, and the ceasefire was just 1 percent of an attempt to revive it. But we have lost hope in everything.”
Faiq used to work with his father in the clothing trade, but the war has meant that they have lost everything. He can’t reach his home, which is inside what Israel terms the “yellow line”, under total Israeli control, with access for Palestinians heavily restricted.
“There’s no construction there, no work, no infrastructure, no life, and no safety,” Faiq said. “So, where is the end of the war?”
“Today I just sit at home 24 hours a day, and there’s no sign of life,” he added. “We’re surviving on bitterness … We’re not just frustrated. We’re in a catastrophe. Let us live … let us reopen our shops … reopen the crossings … let us live our lives.”
No second phase
The question of what comes next in Gaza continues to be endlessly debated, both inside and outside of the Palestinian enclave.
United States President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza now calls for a transitional technocratic government, made up of “qualified Palestinians and international experts”, all under the supervision of an international “board of peace”, to be headed by Trump himself.
The plan also talks about an economic development strategy and an international stabilisation force, all designed to signal that stability and progress are on the cards for Gaza.
But the details are still unclear, particularly as the US and Israel reject any future role for Hamas, and the sheer amount of devastation left behind by Israel in Gaza, meaning that a rebuild of the territory will take years.
Israel itself is also unwilling to fully commit to an end to the war, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu under pressure from his far-right political allies.
Ahed Farwana, a Palestinian political analyst and a specialist in Israeli affairs, believes that Israel wants the current state of limbo in Gaza to continue and avoid moving on to the reconstruction of the Strip.
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