In Gaza we’re trapped in an endless maze of waiting – for peace, for the deaths to stop and for our lives to begin again | Aya Al-Hattab

A ceasefire was announced on 10 October. But despite ‘peace’ being on the lips of world leaders ever since, we Palestinians are still under siege and afraid

Here in Gaza we hear the word “peace” constantly – even more often than we hear the roar of warplanes or the thuds of shelling. It appears on television screens, in the statements of world leaders, in promises repeated again and again. Every country claims to want peace for Palestinians. Yet have we ever lived it for a single day? The truth is that we have not.

We are now living under a ceasefire, or at least that is what the US and the rest of the world have been telling us. But in Gaza, we haven’t felt it at all. It was announced on 10 October, amid great celebrations in Sharm el-Sheikh. Since then, Israeli forces have killed more than 360 Palestinians, including about 70 children, in Gaza. Because of the explosions I keep hearing, I am still afraid to leave the house. We are trapped in an endless maze of waiting: for the suffering to stop, for our lives to begin again and above all, for the death to end.