Deir el-Balah, Gaza Strip, Palestine – Palestinians in the Gaza Strip woke to a new round of explosions on Thursday, feeling heightened by the news that Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas had reached a ceasefire the night before.

They hope the announcement will spell the end of Israel’s 15-month war, which has left more than 46,700 Palestinians dead and thousands more missing. But their memories of the war won’t fade away anytime soon.

In Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, many people have fled their homes and been displaced from other parts of the enclave after Israeli attacks or Israeli orders to leave or face bombing.

They fight for survival. Many people have lost those closest to them and feel lucky to be alive. But what happens next remains unknown. With the devastation in Gaza so obvious and Israel seemingly unwilling to ignore it, there are many pitfalls ahead.

Al Jazeera spoke to people in Deir al-Balah, a day after the ceasefire was announced on Wednesday, as they awaited its implementation on Sunday. This is what they said:

More trauma is yet to come

Nahed al-Wer is a psychiatrist who was displaced with his family from the Burij refugee camp when the war began. He now works at the Deir al-Balah clinic and volunteers in his spare time, meeting people seeking psychological help for trauma suffered during the war.

It feels very good. We are very happy. It feels like Eid. Let’s hope this feeling lasts forever and that we don’t see any more bloodshed. We hope we never see something like this again and that we don’t have to go through this experience again. We all lost people. I lost my brother, my nephew, another nephew and another relative.

I fear we will see more escalations in the coming days. This is the nature of Israeli politicians. They kept trying to escalate the killings more and more before a ceasefire was signed or came into effect. The pace of killing accelerated. In 2014, on the last day of the war, I lost my sister and her baby.

There is still a lot of fear that the Israeli leadership might renege on the deal, and the pace of killing has accelerated in the last two or three days, so I pray to God that that doesn’t happen.

After the war, there will be a large number of people suffering from very difficult psychological conditions – from the tensions, phobias and fears they experienced. These conditions and mental fatigue may even get worse and progress beyond depression.

These people must be treated. Just a few days ago I came across the case of an elderly woman whose son had died. She suffered from severe mental health issues and began receiving psychiatric treatment to help her condition.

“We have lost many dear and precious people”

Yasmeen al-Helo is a mother from Shujayea, a suburb of Gaza City. A year ago, she was displaced to Deir al-Balah.

Honestly, my feelings are indescribable. It was so happy that I cried with joy at the same time. I cried over what happened to us. It wasn’t easy and there was a lot of sadness. People’s hearts are hurt. The experience was a heavy burden and very difficult.

We lost people. Some are missing, some are occupied (by Israel), some are martyred. Overall, I am happy that the bloodshed and violence is about to stop, but at the same time, I am sad because we have lost so many dear and precious people. But things happen and all you can do is pray to God.

God willing, the ceasefire does not break down and will continue this time. To be honest, I would have preferred an immediate ceasefire because the difficulties in these two days have been worse than in the whole of the past year. They wanted to escalate the explosions and craziness they were going on.

Hope to go abroad for treatment

Mohammed al-Mudawwi was undergoing physical therapy at Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis for a spinal injury that left his legs paralyzed when he said he was taken by Israeli troops left and was accused of participating in the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023. Southern Israel, which he denies. He explained that he was detained for about a month in January 2024, during which time he was beaten.

The treatment was very bad. I developed an ulcer due to medical negligence. I wasn’t allowed to move. When they put me on my right or left side, they wouldn’t turn me, so I developed an ulcer. My hands turned blue from the continued pressure of the handcuffs.

My health deteriorated due to lack of nutrition. They didn’t give us food. We were blindfolded. We didn’t know what they made us drink. They even cut open my feet to see if I could feel them. When I started bleeding, no one paid attention to the bandage. I hope that since I am disabled, I can now be referred for treatment abroad.

I feel optimistic and hopeful now because of the ceasefire. Yesterday was the first time since the war started that I laughed. It was such a wonderful moment, especially for my kids. May God have mercy on the souls of the martyrs.

“We can never forget”

Saleh Aljafarawi is a 27-year-old journalist who was displaced from northern Gaza during the war. He became famous in Gaza for his videos covering the war and said he had received repeated threats from Israel for his work.

It was a terrible experience, one of the worst I’ve ever had in my life. All the scenes and situations I experienced in these 467 days will never be erased from my memory. All the situations we encounter, we can never forget.

But today, with the end of this war, the joy we feel makes us forget – even slightly – what we have been through. May God keep us safe in Gaza. When the war is over, we will return to the northern Gaza Strip, even if our homes are destroyed and we have nothing left. God willing, we will rebuild them.

We paid a high price in this war. We’ve lost colleagues, we’ve lost family, we’ve lost friends. We are deprived of the simplest things you can imagine. We were deprived of 467 days of being with our families.

To be honest, I lived in fear every second, especially after hearing what the Israeli occupiers said about me. I live every second of my life not knowing what will happen next.

There are still two days until the ceasefire, and I hope God will make it easier for us.