By Ahmad Awad
Gaza, Feb 14 (EFE).- Palestinians who returned to the Gaza Strip after the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, most of them living in tents, are facing even more difficult conditions in the last few hours due to heavy rains and amid fears that the truce could collapse at any moment.
Dirt roads between the ruins of homes and tents of displaced people in Beit Hanoun, in the north-east of the Strip, have turned into puddles of water as women, children, and men try to warm themselves around bonfires as the skies threaten more rain.
Children walk barefoot around tents, half-destroyed houses, and open-air kitchens, and women and men try to clear their makeshift homes with buckets to remove the accumulated water.
Others try to dry their wet clothes over the fire.
Rafiq Ziad Hamid, 22, married with two children, prepares food on a charcoal stove set up on the steps of a ruined house.
“Today we are cooking pasta (…) but there is no money to buy vegetables and fruit,” he said.
“The storm flooded us, the children can’t get out. We left a camp there that was completely flooded. People’s lives have become difficult,” he lamented, as his wife and children gathered around the fire to warm themselves while waiting for food.
Concerns about the possible collapse of the ceasefire, which came into force on Jan. 19, are growing among Gazans as the Islamist group accuses Israel of reneging on its side of the agreement.
“I prefer that all the hostages are released and we go back to living our lives as before, in peace. Trump, when he talks, he acts, and the biggest mistake is to oppose him,” Rafiq said.
On Feb. 10, Hamas announced that it had suspended the sixth ceasefire exchange scheduled for Saturday “until further notice” because of repeated Israeli ceasefire “violations,” including blocking the entry of humanitarian aid.
On Thursday, after meetings with mediating countries in Qatar, the Islamist group backtracked and announced that Saturday’s releases would go ahead as planned.
But Trump’s threats that “all hell will break loose” if Hamas doesn’t release the hostages on Saturday have sparked fears that the fragile ceasefire could collapse.
“The ceasefire won’t last as long as (Hamas armed wing spokesperson Abu) Obeida is talking and Trump is threatening, which will lead us back to war any moment,” Rafiq said.
Gazans have called on the international community to help return the Strip to the way it was.
“Instead of talking about our migration, we want them to rebuild Gaza,” he added.
Basim al-Kafari, a displaced Palestinian who has returned to his home in Jabalia, in northern Gaza, hopes that Arab countries will agree to reject Trump’s plan to expel Palestinians from the Strip.
“If the Arab countries take our side, Trump will stay within his limits,” Al-Kafari said.
He recalled that Gazans do not want an alternative homeland, but to stay in the Strip.
“If war returns, I will not move south. We are tired. I would rather die than move,” he added. EFE
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