JERUSALEM, Jan 15, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Israelis and Gazans on Tuesday anxiously 
awaited a long-sought truce deal, with relatives of hostages calling for 
their release, and displaced Palestinians praying for a chance to return 
home.

Multiple officials from mediating countries involved in the negotiations have 
said a deal on a ceasefire and hostage-prisoner exchange is closer than ever, 
with Qatar saying negotiations were in their "final stages".

In Israel, since the early morning, the families of hostages and their 
supporters gathered outside the parliament and the office of Prime Minister 
Benjamin Netanyahu to demand that every effort be made to secure a deal after 
months of disappointment.

"Time is of the essence, and time does not favour the hostages," said Gil 
Dickmann, cousin of former hostage Carmel Gat, whose body was recovered from 
a Gaza tunnel in September.

"Hostages who are alive will end up dead. Hostages who are dead might be 
lost," Dickmann said at a rally in Jerusalem. "We have to act now."

Earlier on Tuesday, Dickmann and several other relatives of hostages still 
being held in Gaza met with Netanyahu to press him to agree to a deal.

"If we stop the war, we will receive all the hostages immediately," said Eli 
Shtivi, father of former hostage Ilan Shtivi.

"So, that is what needs to be done."

The war in Gaza erupted after Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel on 
October 7, 2023.
The attack, the deadliest in Israel's history, resulted in the deaths of 
1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli 
figures.

On that day, militants also took 251 people hostage, of whom 94 remain in 
Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory campaign in Gaza has since killed 46,645 people, the 
majority civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run 
territory, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.

The extensive military offensive has left much of Gaza in ruins, displacing 
most of its residents during the course of more than 15 months of war.

- 'Back from the dead' -

The longing to end the war is deeply felt in Gaza as well.

"I'm anxiously awaiting the truce. I will cry for days on end," said Umm 
Ibrahim Abu Sultan, a resident of Gaza City now living in Khan Yunis after 
being displaced along with her five children. "We lost everything."

She expressed disbelief at the possibility of reuniting with her husband, who 
remained in Gaza City.

"I'm waiting for the announcement of the agreement. I just want to go back to 
my home, my area, and my family. It feels like we're coming back from the 
dead," she said.

Displaced Gazan Hassan Al-Madhoun said he had been waiting for 15 months for 
a deal.

"I can't even imagine how I'll feel when we return to Jabalia and to our 
destroyed home," he said.

"It will take time to process the extent of the loss. The martyrs are still 
buried under the rubble."
Back in Israel, however, not everyone was in favour of a ceasefire.

"They (Hamas) need to raise their hands and say, 'That's it. We're giving you 
the hostages back because you won,' and that's not what's happening," said 
Barbara Haskel at a rally protesting the proposed deal.