Wall-to-wall coverage of the Gaza ceasefire lit up television screens across the country’s living rooms and cafes last night, with the nation’s hosts split between hope and apprehension of what’s to come.
“The people of Gaza breathed a sigh of relief today for the first time after 471 days of bombardment and displacement between the north, center, and south in search of shelter to protect them from death,” Lamees El Hadidi’s told those tuned into Kelma Akhira (watch, runtime: 4:56). Around “330 trucks carrying food and medical supplies have already entered through the Kerem Shalom and Al Auja crossings, including 20 fuel trucks,” El Hadidi noted.
“Gaza is now a landscape of ruins, but its people remain steadfast, determined to return to their destroyed homes,” El Hadidi continued.
“Resistance is not something that dies—it’s an idea,” El Hadidi said in response to footage that showed members of Hamas’ Al Qassam Brigades military wing quickly reasserting their presence on the streets amid welcoming crowds after a 15 month campaign to destroy them (watch, runtime: 0:53).. “As long as Palestinians are denied clear rights and a homeland, resistance will persist,” El Hadidi argued.
“The only so-called victory we can speak of is that, for now, Palestinians are unlikely to die tomorrow or the day after from Israeli shelling,” Amr Adib said on his show El Hekaya (watch, runtime: 25:58). He added that “the Israeli aggression on Gaza was nothing short of genocide. Every new American weapon was tested—American technology, Israeli brutality, and global silence combined. Palestinians are returning home now, not hoping to find their loved ones alive, but to locate their bodies.”
Adib also warned of the risk of civil war erupting between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority over control of the Gaza Strip and urged Arab nations to withhold financial aid for reconstruction until this political dispute is resolved.