‘We have been waiting a long time’ – Palestinians react to ceasefire deal

Farida, a teacher displaced from the north of Gaza, said she has not seen her mother, father and brothers for more than a year.

Speaking from Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, she told BBC Arabic’s Gaza lifeline: “We currently experience a state of anticipation, fear and anxiety.

“We are also going through feelings of eagerness… We are trying to breathe freedom which we have been denied.

“No matter how much I talk, I will not be able to describe the mixed feelings overwhelming me and the happiness I feel now for returning to the north.”

Reem, a mother who was also displaced from the north where she lost her home, told the programme: “Thank God we are finally living this moment that we have never expected.

“The feeling I am going through now swings between joy and sadness.”

Hashim Adel Abu Eiala, speaking in Khan Younis, told the BBC he was experiencing “the greatest feeling in the world”.

“We have been waiting for more than a year and three months in this suffering, death, destruction, killing and hunger.

“We have been patient and showed steadfastness no other people in the world or the Arab region showed before.”

He has been living in a tent for 15 months and will “kneel down to thank God” when he returns home, he said, adding: “We wish this joy ends well.”