{"id":219088,"date":"2025-01-19T13:47:15","date_gmt":"2025-01-19T13:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/19\/as-truce-takes-hold-gazans-and-israelis-express-elation-tinged-with-doubt\/"},"modified":"2025-01-19T13:47:15","modified_gmt":"2025-01-19T13:47:15","slug":"as-truce-takes-hold-gazans-and-israelis-express-elation-tinged-with-doubt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/19\/as-truce-takes-hold-gazans-and-israelis-express-elation-tinged-with-doubt\/","title":{"rendered":"As Truce Takes Hold, Gazans and Israelis Express Elation Tinged With Doubt"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/multimedia\/19mideast-assess-mgpk\/19mideast-assess-mgpk-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"As Truce Takes Hold, Gazans and Israelis Express Elation Tinged With Doubt\" title=\"As Truce Takes Hold, Gazans and Israelis Express Elation Tinged With Doubt\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As a truce took hold on Sunday in Gaza, potentially ending the longest and deadliest war in a century of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, two men used the same metaphor to describe how they felt.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe weight on my chest has lifted,\u201d said Ziad Obeid, a Gazan civil servant displaced several times during the war. \u201cWe have survived.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe rock lying on my heart has been removed,\u201d said Dov Weissglas, a former Israeli politician. \u201cWe want to see the hostages home, period.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But \u2014 both men also had a \u201cbut\u201d \u2014 Mr. Obeid has not seen his damaged house in northern Gaza for more than a year. How bad, he wondered, is the damage? And who will rebuild a decimated Gaza?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Weissglas worried about the condition of the hostages set to be freed gradually over the next few weeks from dank quarters in the territory. And he grimaced about exchanging them for hundreds of Palestinian detainees, many of whom are serving life sentences for attacks on Israelis. \u201cThere is relief,\u201d he said, \u201cwrapped in caution, fears and concern.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It was an apt summary of the mood on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide on Sunday, as Israelis and Palestinians expressed feelings of elation tinged with doubt.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For Palestinians, the truce is theoretically expected to provide at least six weeks without strikes on Gaza. That offers a window for Gazans to take tentative first steps toward reconstruction; to find relatives still buried in the rubble; and to come to terms with the killing of more than 45,000 people, both civilians and combatants, whose bodies have already been counted by the Gazan health authorities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For Israelis, the deal allows for the gradual release of at least 33 of the hostages captured during Hamas\u2019s raid on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 \u2014 an attack that killed up to 1,200 people and provoked Israel\u2019s devastating 15-month response. For the hostages released alive, that means freedom after 470 days of captivity. For Israelis at large, many of them wracked by a form of survivors\u2019 guilt, it offers qualified catharsis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But the details of the deal between Israel and Hamas mean that both sides still face considerable uncertainty about how the next six weeks will play out, let alone about whether the tentative arrangement will later become permanent. Even the first phase started hours behind schedule on Sunday morning, amid disputes about which hostages would be released in the afternoon. In that time, according to the Gazan authorities, Israeli strikes killed and wounded yet more people.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Palestinians remain unclear about the fates of several thousand Gazans detained incommunicado during the war and who may not be released during the upcoming exchanges. Reema Diab, a housewife in central Gaza, still has no away of locating her husband, a horse trainer, who she said was taken for interrogation in Israel in December 2023 and never heard from since.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI\u2019m relieved the bloodshed is coming to an end, but my heart aches,\u201d Ms. Diab said. \u201cHis absence is unimaginable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A few dozen miles away, Mr. Weissglas feared for the fates of some 65 hostages who may not be released from Gaza if the deal collapses after six weeks. He worried that many of the initial 33 hostages set to be released over the next 42 days may be emotionally or physically scarred, or even dead. And he lamented the cost of their freedom, which will be obtained in exchange for Palestinian detainees, including those convicted of major terrorist attacks as well as teenagers who have never been charged.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Palestinians see the soon-to-be released prisoners as freedom fighters. For Israelis, it will be a psychological blow to see \u201cthis stream of murderers being released,\u201d Mr. Weissglas said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Videos of Hamas fighters re-emerging in triumph from hiding was also a gut-punch for Israelis, who had hoped the war would completely destroy the group\u2019s military abilities. For many Gazans, it was a sight to be celebrated, but for others, it was a reminder of lingering uncertainty about Gaza\u2019s future governance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Obeid works for the Palestinian Authority, which lost power to Hamas in Gaza 18 years ago but which still employs some civil servants there, including Mr. Obeid. He said he had been working with the authority\u2019s leaders in the West Bank to plan potential cleanup and reconstruction operations in Gaza in the coming days. It is unclear, he said, whether that will be possible with Hamas still in charge over the next six weeks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But that is tomorrow\u2019s challenge, Mr. Obeid said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For now, he said, \u201cI can breathe oxygen again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Bilal Shbair<!-- --> contributed reporting from Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, and <!-- -->Aaron Boxerman<!-- --> from Jerusalem.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/19\/world\/middleeast\/gaza-israel-mood.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As a truce took hold on Sunday in Gaza, potentially ending the longest and deadliest war in a century of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, two men used the same metaphor to describe how they felt. \u201cThe weight on my chest has lifted,\u201d said Ziad Obeid, a Gazan civil servant displaced several times during the war. \u201cWe have [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219089,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/multimedia\/19mideast-assess-mgpk\/19mideast-assess-mgpk-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[13531,57750,2781,32652,3451,5552,2948,3096,38,24513,48481,8527,137131,1074,170584,19437],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219088"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219088"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":219090,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219088\/revisions\/219090"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}