SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
After more than 15 months of war, a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect today. Israeli hostages held captive for more than a year are being released, and the airstrikes and attacks in Gaza have halted. While it's only just begun, many people are happy that the hostilities have eased for now. One of them is Nour Elassy. She's a journalist and a student from Gaza City, though she has been displaced since the very beginning of the war. Nour joins me now. Welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
NOUR ELASSY: Hello. I'm so glad to be here.
DETROW: Let me just begin by asking how you're feeling today and what the atmosphere is like around you.
ELASSY: Well, it's full of joy and celebrations. And to be honest, it's so overwhelming. I have never thought that this day would come, that I would make it out alive. You know, the past 15 months have been brutal. It's not that I lost hope, but I did not think I would make it out alive. But thank God, I am.
DETROW: I mean, so many people in Gaza have been displaced and have seen attacks and violence and death and destruction every day for 15 months. What are the conversations that you're having right now with people that you're coming across today? What kind of things are you talking about?
ELASSY: Well, it's mostly about going back home. That is the main topic here. We have been displaced out of our home for almost over a year. And it's so overwhelming to have this idea that we will go back there because we thought, like, we could never go back to the north...
DETROW: Yeah.
ELASSY: ...To our own country, to our houses. Though, many people, I heard, like, a lot - I don't know the right percentage for it, but - have lost their homes. So they will be going back to rubbles. But fortunately for me, our house is still standing at (inaudible). But there has been some destruction in it, but nothing serious.
DETROW: But it's still there.
ELASSY: So yeah, it is still there. And we're excited to going back to our normal life, to our education, our jobs, the warm atmosphere of Gaza, the simple, warm atmosphere of it that we have been denied from for too long, that we did not think this day would come ever.
DETROW: How quickly do you think you can get back there to your house?
ELASSY: Well, as they said, we could go back next Sunday. We will be allowed to go back to the north. Today, people from - who have been displaced from Rafah and Khan Yunis - the southern of the Strip, they went back home today. I envy them, actually. It has been a great moment of joy, and the population here in Deir al Balah is decreasing because Deir al Balah had, like, over 2 million displaced people in it from all around the Strip.
DETROW: This is only the first phase of the ceasefire. This stage has an end date. You've seen Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others say that the war could begin again at any moment. But hearing in your voice and hearing what you're saying, it seems to me like you're feeling hopeful that this can be permanent.
ELASSY: I don't know.
DETROW: Yeah.
ELASSY: Like, literally, I don't know if it will. Peace seems very fragile to me right now...
DETROW: Yeah.
ELASSY: ...Because both parties did not get what they want out of this war. I don't like to talk politics. I'm not that into them, but always we fall as the victim - the people, you know? And I think peace at this point is very fragile. And in my opinion, I don't think it will last for a long time, but hopefully, hopefully - I hope it does.
DETROW: When you do get back to Gaza City, when you do get back to your house, what are your immediate plans? What would you like to do? What are you hoping to do?
ELASSY: Well, at first, I'm going to take a long walk in all the neighborhoods, all of the streets that I used to walk in daily and I have not seen for 15 months. I'm going to take a walk. I'm going to clean the house that have not been touched by any human for over 15 months, and that is going to be extremely difficult job. And to go back to my education, to see my room, to enter the house that I have been raised in and born in, to see our neighbors. A lot of people have stayed there in our neighborhood. And I don't know, so many things - to go back to the university, but it's bombed, unfortunately. So I think we will be continuing to studying online. But I'm just so excited - so excited to be over with this nightmare.
DETROW: And just speaking for you personally, I'm wondering what your long-term hopes are for the future of Gaza City.
ELASSY: I really hope that we maintain this peace or at least to try to maintain it by just considering that every time the people - the normal people, they fall for victim. We get affected the most out of this war - the children, the women. So I really hope that the international community try to preserve this peace for as long as they can.
DETROW: That's Nour Elassy, a student and journalist who lives in Gaza. Thank you for talking to us on this first day of the ceasefire.
ELASSY: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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