Gaza celebrates end of longest Israel-Hamas war with overwhelming joy

DEIR EL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — It was a moment many thought would not come. The people of Gaza greeted the news of a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel with a spontaneous outpouring of joy after nearly 470 days of war, the longest between the two.

The sound of cheers and ululations filled the air here in Deir El-Balah as families gathered to exchange hugs and congratulations on Wednesday evening. Mobile phones buzzed with calls and messages between friends and relatives, rediscovering a long-lost sense of joy.

Cries of “Alhamdulillah” (Thank God) rang out across the neighborhoods.

On Jan. 15, Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire agreement brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, ending 15 months of conflict that left widespread destruction and heavy loss of life across the Gaza Strip.

Joy mixed with pain

In a small tent east of Nuseirat in central Gaza, Ahmad al-Hana sat alone with a photo of his wife and two children, all killed in an Israeli airstrike on a crowded market last August.

“When I heard the announcement of the ceasefire, I felt great joy mixed with deep pain. I’m happy because the killing will finally stop, but I wonder what a ceasefire means for someone who has lost his family and home,” Hana told Al-Monitor as he stared at the photo of his loved ones.

“I have no choice but to move forward,” he said, adding, “I cannot let their memories be buried with me in this tent.”

“We only want to live with dignity. The war has left us with nothing but pain, but we are a people who do not lose hope.” He sees the ceasefire agreement as “the beginning of a new life.”

At one of the crowded shelters for the displaced in the town of al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis in the south, Salma Abboud was packing a large suitcase in preparation to return to Gaza City, which she fled during the war.

Abboud, who had gotten engaged just one week before the war erupted on Oct. 7, 2023, saw her dreams shattered as her family was repeatedly displaced and her marital home turned to rubble.

“I had dreamed of wearing a white dress since I was a child. My fiance and I planned a big wedding, but the war came and stole all our dreams,” Abboud told Al-Monitor.

With every new bombing, she feared losing her fiance or another family member. “Thank God I’m still alive, and my fiance and family are safe. That’s what matters most now — nothing is more precious than life.”

With the ceasefire announcement, Abboud felt a glimmer of hope. “When I heard the news, I cried with joy. Finally, the nightmare is over. True, our home is gone, but we’ll rebuild it, brick by brick.”

In a dilapidated tent west of Deir al-Balah city in the central Gaza Strip, Umm Ammar al-Aidi sat sipping a cup of tea, trying to calm her nerves after long hours of listening to the radio, anticipating the announcement of a ceasefire.

“When I heard that a ceasefire would be announced today, I did not believe it. I was afraid that it was another rumor, but I did not leave the radio until the great news was finally announced,” she told Al-Monitor.

شوارع غزة الآن 🇵🇸🔻 pic.twitter.com/nZ4xRcda56

— غزة الآن - Gaza Now (@nowgnna) January 15, 2025

Aidi took her little daughter by the hand and left her tent to join her neighbors. One, Umm Ahmed, approached her and said, “Finally, Umm Ammar, we will return to northern Gaza. We will return to our neighborhood and our land.”

At the ruins of a modern building In Gaza City that was once the headquarters of his digital programming, design and development company, Yousef al-Khalidi stood in front of the business he built, destroyed by Israeli airstrikes.

“The war took so much from me, but it couldn’t take away my passion and ambition,” Khalidi told Al-Monitor. “It’s true that my company was destroyed, but I still believe I can start over.”

Khalidi has already begun making plans to rebuild his company. “I will start from scratch, even if it’s in a small room in our house. I will try to gather the team again, and we will work together to rebuild what we lost.”

The war's toll

Ismail al-Thawabtah, a Hamas official and the director of Gaza’s government media office, told Al-Monitor, “The ceasefire declaration was a dream for the people of Gaza.”

Although the war is over, he said, “it left behind deep pain and wounds that will take decades to heal.”

The war started on Oct. 7, 2023, after Hamas launched a cross-border attack on southern Israel, killing more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 250 others hostage.

According to Thawabtah, about 47,000 people were killed during the war, including more than 17,000 children and 12,000 women. He added that 110,000 were injured, while 11,000 are still missing under the rubble.

The Israeli campaign completely destroyed more than 160,000 housing units and destroyed 86% of Gaza's territory, he added, estimating the initial direct losses of the war at about $37 billion.

On reconstruction efforts, Thawabta said, “The end of the bombing has not really ended the crisis for the people who lost their homes, which makes reconstruction a top priority to restore hope and stability to the Strip.”

Thawabta stressed the need to hold an urgent international conference on accelerating reconstruction efforts and providing funding to compensate those affected.