Israel has never understood Palestinian resilience. We survived the Gaza Genocide, like catastrophes before it, through the call to Return home, the fuel for Palestinian survival. For Palestinians, the Right of Return is and will always be the Issue.

Late on Monday, 300,000 forcibly displaced Palestinians returned to Gaza City and northern Gaza for the first time since the start of Israel’s genocidal war.

As Palestinians find some respite in the midst of a ceasefire in Gaza, many families have one important job to do before returning back to their homes: giving their loved ones, many who were buried in mass or temporary graves, a proper burial.

Palestinians across Gaza are returning to the rubble of their homes to search for their missing loved ones. “I’m looking through the skulls the Civil Defense collects trying to identify my sons,” Rafah resident Mahmoud Al-Qatati tells Mondoweiss. 

The recent ceasefire celebrations with Hamas fighters in the heart of Gaza City exposed Israel’s military failures, and also showed how Palestinian joy is a direct affront to the petty gods who seek to rule over us.

Israel is continuing an offensive on the West Bank city of Jenin that analysts say is meant to appease the settler movement as it pushes the government to exert more control over the occupied territory in preparation for annexation.

In the final hours before the Gaza ceasefire I asked my friends and family, “What’s the first thing you’ll do?” Through their answers, I came to understand the truce was not a moment of joy but a chance for our postponed grief to finally surface.

Although trained as a social researcher, when the war began in October 2023 I joined the search and rescue team in the Gaza City neighborhood of al-Shuja’iyya. Here are some of my stories of being a first responder during the Gaza genocide.

I always wanted to become is doctor, and my dream was coming true at Al-Azhar University. But Israel left our campus in ruins and has destroyed a generation. Those of us who survive vow to carry the legacy of those martyred forward, and rebuild Gaza.

Since the ceasefire was announced, Israel has continued to bomb Gaza, and Israeli ministers have promised to sabotage the deal. Fear and skepticism have overtaken celebrations in Gaza, as millions wait anxiously for the deal to take effect on Sunday.