Photo/Illutration A man holds up a Palestinian flag on Jan. 19 in the town of Rafah, in the southernmost part of Gaza, which has been reduced to ruins by Israeli military attacks. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

An Israel-Hamas cease-fire went into effect on Jan. 19.

I recall feeling a bit relieved as I watched footage of people raising the Palestinian flag on the street and embracing one another joyously.

By then, more than 47,000 people had been killed in the war. And I prayed that the temporary truce would become permanent.

On the first day of the truce, Mohammed Mansour, an Asahi Shimbun correspondent living in Gaza, shared what the locals had to say.

They were thrilled to be able to go home. They’d lived through hellish days.

But one person’s comment left an especially deep impression: “My home was destroyed and is now without a roof. But I want to sleep there, looking up at the sky.”

This was a man in his 50s who’d fled to southern Gaza.

Fenced in by walls and the Mediterranean Sea, the Gaza Strip is called an “open-air prison.”

That man’s ruined house was left roofless, but he had the strength to face the reality and not hang his head. I was touched by his grit.

That was two months ago. But on March 18, Israel launched massive airstrikes across Gaza.

Israel blames Hamas for refusing to free Israeli hostages, but the shattered truce spells many more civilians becoming victims of war. When I think of their despair, I have no words.

Is the international community really powerless to stop this tremendous tragedy? Shouldn’t U.S. President Donald Trump, who is thought to be the only person who can speak up to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, be working to restore the truce?

Soon after the Jan. 19 cease-fire, Mansour visited his home in southern Gaza for the first time in eight months. His town had been ruined beyond recognition, but the sky caught his eyes.

He recalled, “The blue sky looked strangely big. ... All that’s left for us are memories.”

—The Asahi Shimbun, March 19

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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