A family carries belongings in a pick-up truck on the Saftawi road in Jabaliya, northern Gaza, on Jan. 20, 2025, the day after the cease-fire came into effect. (Credit: Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP)
Noor al-Yacoubi, 25, a translator and media coordinator at a research center, lives in the Gaza Strip, which has been bombarded and besieged by the Israeli army since the outbreak of a war between Hamas and Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. After the cease-fire took effect, she shared her state of mind, along with that of other Gaza residents, with L’Orient-Le Jour. It marked the first pause in fighting in over a year, following a week-long truce in November 2023.This is the moment I’ve been longing for — 470 days of waiting, enduring and hoping. The moment a cease-fire would finally be announced in Gaza, the city that has witnessed one of the most brutal wars in human history. Yet, I never imagined it would feel this hard.I have lived through five Israeli aggressions — 2008, 2012, 2014, 2021 and 2022. But Gaza in 2023 is unlike anything before,...
Noor al-Yacoubi, 25, a translator and media coordinator at a research center, lives in the Gaza Strip, which has been bombarded and besieged by the Israeli army since the outbreak of a war between Hamas and Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. After the cease-fire took effect, she shared her state of mind, along with that of other Gaza residents, with L’Orient-Le Jour. It marked the first pause in fighting in over a year, following a week-long truce in November 2023.This is the moment I’ve been longing for — 470 days of waiting, enduring and hoping. The moment a cease-fire would finally be announced in Gaza, the city that has witnessed one of the most brutal wars in human history. Yet, I never imagined it would feel this hard.I have lived through five Israeli aggressions — 2008, 2012, 2014, 2021 and 2022. But Gaza in 2023 is unlike anything...