Fear remains as Gazans wait for ceasefire to kick inpublished at 17:18 Greenwich Mean Time 17 January
Adnan El-Bursh
Gaza correspondent, based in Doha
Not long after the ceasefire in Gaza was announced, I was
shocked by the loss of 10 family members of my friend and neighbour Amer
Sultan in an Israeli bombardment of Jabalia, northern Gaza.
Amer Sultan, 33, is a BBC freelance journalist from Jabalia.
Just two days ago, he was overjoyed to hear the long-awaited ceasefire news.
He had been displaced from his home in
Jabalia for a year and three months to cover the war.
Like many others, he had suffered multiple displacements and
joined our team at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, where we worked until I left
the Gaza Strip.
We spoke when the ceasefire was announced, and he told me
that he could not wait to be with his mother. She was preparing the house he
would move into with his fiancé, as soon as the war ends.
But yesterday, an
Israeli strike hit the building where his family lived in Jabalia. I contacted
him directly and he was screaming on the phone: “They bombed my house… They
bombed my house.”
Journalists were unable to verify the number of victims
until the early hours of the morning due to poor communications, when we
learned that he had lost his brothers and their children.
Their bodies were
recovered, while his mother was still under the rubble. His house was also
destroyed.
The news was very painful. Many in Gaza share the concern
over what the coming hours will bring, until the ceasefire comes into effect.
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