Just as Palestinians in Gaza were renewed with a sense of hope on Wednesday after news of an end to the conflict between Israel and Hamas, deadly Israeli airstrikes descended on the population, turning celebration into misery.
Families broke down in tears as they saw the bodies of their loved ones wrapped in white cloth being carried to Khan Younis outside Nasser Hospital on Friday – their names written in green ink in Arabic, one by one.
Jomaa Abdel-Aal said two of his nephews – Mohammed Asaad Jarghoun, 28, and Mohammed Mahmoud Jarghoun, 27 – were killed in a tent in the center of Khan Younis around 2 am on Friday.
“Every day we say goodbye to the martyrs. We are used to saying goodbye to our loved ones,” Abdel-Aal told CBC News videographer Mohamed El Saife on Friday.
“May God unite us with them [the afterlife],” he said. “Life has become an unbearable hell.”
There were also others who were crying and praying for those who were killed as the women were crying and sticking to each other.
At least 117 people have died since Wednesday
On Friday, Israel’s security cabinet recommended approving a ceasefire in Gaza and a deal on the return of hostages, ahead of a full cabinet meeting that will give final approval to the deal that will officially come into force on Sunday.
As the final details were still being worked out, Israeli warplanes continued heavy strikes on the Gaza Strip in the days following Wednesday’s announcement.
At least 117 Palestinians, including 32 women and 30 children, have since been killed and another 266 injured, according to the Palestinian Civil Defense in Gaza.
Palestinians gathered on Friday at Nasser Hospital near Khan Younis, south of Gaza, to pray for the bodies of their loved ones who were killed in an Israeli airstrike a few days before the start of the expected ceasefire.
Abdel Aal, whose two children died in airstrikes during the 15-month war, said he has no hope that the killings in Gaza will end.
“The Palestinian people could not be happy even for a moment in the last 75 years while the death and destruction took place in these lands,” he said.
There was no comment from the Israeli military on the latest strikes.
A journalist was killed in a designated humanitarian area
Earlier this week, a few hours after Palestinians took to the streets to celebrate the news of the agreement reached on Wednesday, the brother of Ismail Al-Shiah, Ahmed Al-Shiah – a journalist in Gaza – was killed in an Israeli airstrike that hit a soup kitchen in A. Al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. This place is designated as a a safe haven for humanitarian aid.
“He gave food to the orphans, he worked with them [the] who are in need,” Al-Shiah told CBC News on Thursday.
“This is a loss for Palestine and a loss for the country.”
In a video that has gone viral online, a young Palestinian man is seen crouching over the body of his sister who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in a house in the center of Gaza City early Thursday.
“Hala, wake up, the war is over, we can go down,” he said, shaking the girl’s body. “Hala, we can leave Gaza and go outside the country, stand up!”
Hope quickly turns to sorrow
Saeed Awad, an emergency doctor in Gaza, said that Israeli shelling has increased especially since Wednesday in central and northern Gaza.
“All this destroys people’s happiness,” Awad told CBC News on Thursday. “And it affects the happiness that was there [Wednesday].”
Awad said there was a strike in Ard al Mufti in central Gaza on Thursday, but the Palestinian Civil Defense and ambulances could not reach the area.
“The house is on fire and no one can get to it.”
Israel’s acceptance of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas will not be official until it is approved by the security cabinet and the country’s government. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delayed the vote, accusing Hamas of making last-minute demands and backtracking on agreements.
Tamer Abu Shaaban’s voice cracked as he stood over the body of his young nephew wrapped in a white cloth on a tiled floor in Gaza City’s cold Thursday. He was hit in the back with missiles while playing in the yard of the school where the family took refuge.
“Is this the peace they are talking about? What did this little girl do to deserve this? What did she do to deserve this situation? Is she fighting with you Israel?” he asked.
An agreement to end the war emerged on Wednesday after mediation by Qatar, Egypt and the US.
If successful, the ceasefire would end fighting between Hamas and Israeli forces that has devastated much of Gaza and killed more than 46,800 people, mostly women and children, according to the Ministry of Health there. It did not say how many of the dead were soldiers.
Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.
The war began when militants led by Hamas invaded Israel in a surprise attack on Oct. 7, 2023, killed about 1,200 people, including several Canadian citizens, and took about 250 hostages.
Another 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, and the Israeli military believes that about a third and a half of those are dead.
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