After two years of suffering, one Gazan father says he does not care how the war between Israel and Hamas ends. Abdel-Haleem Harb only wants it to be over.
He urged Hamas to agree to the peace plan presented by President Trump on Monday, whatever the terms may be.
“What matters to me is that a solution is reached, whatever the reason and whatever the way,” said Harb, a 33-year-old father of two, who was displaced from Gaza City to Khan Younis in the south of the strip after Israeli forces entered in August. “What matters to me, for the people of Gaza, is to stop this bloodshed in any possible way, even at our own expense.”
Leaflets, prepared by Israeli forces to warn civilians in Gaza City to move to the southern part of the Gaza Strip, are dropped on Tuesday as part of Israel’s ground operation in Gaza
ALI JADALLAH/ANADOLU VIA GETTY IMAGES
Israeli forces targeted the entrance of Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. Several hospital staff members were reported to have been injured
FADEL A A ALMAGHARI/ANADOLU VIA GETTY IMAGES
Hamas is examining the plan, which Israel has endorsed. It includes an immediate cessation of hostilities, an exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners, a staged withdrawal of Israeli troops and the disarmament of the militant group, which has previously refused to lay down its weapons.
It is the proposed introduction of a transitional administration, chaired by Trump and led by an international body, that has evoked anger among some Gazans, most of whom live in the strip because their grandparents fled or were expelled from Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
Sir Tony Blair, 72, the former British prime minister, would be one of those running an administration that might include only one Palestinian representative.
“We do not want another mandate or a British prime minister,” said Mohammed Al-Masri, 27, from Beit Hanoun, who is also displaced and living in Khan Younis. “We are now in an era of technology and prosperity; we do not want a mandate either.”
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Palestinians such as Masri are haunted by ghosts of the past, including the British Balfour Declaration of 1917, promising a homeland for Jews in Palestine, and British rule over the region, known as the Mandate, from 1920 to 1948, when violence between Arabs and Jews escalated.
“We are holding on to any means or initiative to stop this war and to stop the displacement and suffering we have lived through,” said Masri, who watched Trump unveil his plan on Monday night.
“But at the same time there are red lines the Palestinian people cannot accept, such as having the head of the peace council be American or British.”
“We do not want another mandate or a British prime minister,” said Mohammed Al-Masri from Beit Hanoun who has been displaced in Khan Younis
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He said he expected Hamas to agree to the deal but with some conditions. Addressing Hamas, he said: “You are in a difficult position that no one envies you for. Either to comply and agree, or what was said will be implemented by force. You must agree to the proposal, or broaden your patience more, study matters more carefully and study the details in a way that serves the interest of the people.”
He added: “We hope to achieve the basic demands for the Palestinian people that match the sacrifices we have given over the past two years.”
Amid the tentative hopes of a ceasefire, the bloodshed continued in Gaza City. The Hamas-run health ministry said on Tuesday that 42 Palestinians had been killed and 190 people wounded by Israeli fire over the previous 24 hours. The conflict was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched raids into Israel, killing more than 1,200 Israeli civilians, foreign nationals and members of the security forces and taking more than 250 hostage.
“We hope that Hamas will exert every effort to stop the war, because we are living in a very difficult situation — losing our families, loved ones and children,” said Sameer Abu Daqqa, who listened to Monday’s speech in Al-Mawasi on the Gazan coastline with his three children.
Sameer Abu Daqqa from Khan Younis who has been displaced in Al-Mawasi
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Harb hopes that something good will emerge from the bloodshed. This week, Gaza’s health ministry said the Palestinian death toll had exceeded 66,000. Gaza officials do not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but the UN estimates that most of Gaza’s dead have been women and children.
“I do not care about speeches,” he said. “What I care about is that the bloodshed stops because children are being burnt and women are dying. I hope that good will come our way, because we are a people who are exhausted, defenceless and weak.
“I am 33 and I am tired of war. I’ve lived through more than one — in 2008, 2012, 2014, 2019, 2020 — and then came this war, which has no precedent in history.”