Fear remains as Gaza residents wait for ceasefire to take effectposted at 5:18 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time on January 17
Adnan El Bursh
Gaza correspondent, based in Doha
Shortly after the ceasefire in Gaza was announced, I was shocked by the loss of 10 family members of my friend and neighbor Amer Sultan during an Israeli bombardment of Jabalia, northern Gaza. .
Amer Sultan, 33, is a freelance BBC journalist from Jabalia. Just two days ago, he was delighted to hear the long-awaited news of the ceasefire.
He had been displaced from his home in Jabalia for a year and three months to cover the war.
Like many others, he underwent 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 he was looking forward to being with his mother. She was preparing the house he would move into with his fiancée as soon as the war ended.
But yesterday, an Israeli strike hit the building where his family lived in Jabalia. I contacted him directly and he was shouting on the phone: “They bombed my house… They bombed my house.”
Journalists were only able to verify the number of victims in the early morning hours, due to poor communications, when it became known that he had lost his brothers and their children.
Their bodies were found, while his mother was still under the rubble. His house was also destroyed.
The news was very painful. Many in Gaza share concern about what the next few hours hold, until the ceasefire takes effect.
