After months of negotiations, an agreement for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip was reached on Wednesday evening. Journalist Taghreed Elkhodary, born and raised in Gaza, is happy with this news: “All we want is for the bloodshed to stop. For fifteen months we have not had time to recover, to reflect, to mourn loved ones. Now maybe we can start doing that.” Student Nati Banet, born in Tel Aviv, also reacts happily: ”I saw it and I thought: wow, this is great! Finally. This is history.”
A lot of uncertainty
Yet there is also a lot of uncertainty among Palestinian and Israeli Amsterdammers. ”They keep bombing until the last second before the ceasefire. So many Palestinians were killed last night,” says Elkhodary. Banet also says that in addition to being happy, he is also uncertain about what is to come: ”It is not that simple that it is suddenly over and that the war has come to an end. There is a lot of sadness and anger on both sides. And that won’t suddenly disappear if this succeeds.”
Heap
Although the ceasefire feels like a step forward for both, they also know that the road to peace is still long. There are concerns about the political situation and the possibility of future escalations. Yet the two Amsterdammers remain hopeful: ”I fear for what is to come, but I am also very optimistic. People have the will to return and rebuild Gaza. And this is where we want to invest our energy. And rebuild the place from scratch and breathe new life into it. We hope this is the beginning of peace.”