Civilians in Gaza were waiting anxiously on Friday for a pause after 15 relentless months of war, as Israel's cabinet met in Jerusalem to finalise a temporary ceasefire deal with Hamas.
As they waited, Israel pounded the strip with air strikes, killing at least 113 people since the deal was first agreed in principle on Wednesday night, according to the Hamas-run civil defence agency in Gaza.
The deal, finalised on Friday afternoon, is due to come into effect on Sunday, leaving a little over 24 hours more for the people of Gaza to hang on for respite.
"Time is moving slower than ever," said Dr Abdallah Shabir, 27, an emergency doctor at the Baptist Hospital in Gaza City. "Any moment you can lose your life," he said. "Sitting at home, walking in the street - there is no warning."
Dr Shabir was on shift at the hospital on Wednesday night when the news of the ceasefire agreement came through. There was a brief moment of joy, he said, but less than an hour separated the announcement from the beginning of a wave of air strikes that sent a flood of dead and wounded to the Baptist.
Every member of staff was summoned. "It was as bad as we have ever seen," Dr Shabir said. "Severe injuries, severe burns. Many dead, of course."
Among the dead brought in on Thursday was a colleague, Hala Abu Ahmed, a 27-year-old specialist in internal medicine who two colleagues at the Baptist described as a devoted and promising young doctor and a kind person.
She had worked tirelessly and under extreme pressure for 15 months, since the war began, said Dr Ahmad Eliwah, the chief of the emergency department, and been killed after the ceasefire was agreed.
Among the millions of displaced in the strip, many were waiting on Friday for the moment they could return home for the first time since the war began. Many will find a bombed out wasteland in place of their home.
The destruction of the Gaza Strip is immense. According to a recent analysis by the United Nations Satellite Centre, 69% of all structures and 68% of roads have been destroyed or damaged, as of December. About 46,700 people have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Israel set out to destroy Hamas in Gaza in October 2023, after the group attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.
For Gazans, the joy of the long-awaited ceasefire has been tempered by the scale of the death and destruction. "By God, it is a mixed feeling," said Wael Muhammad, a freelance journalist living in a refugee camp in central Gaza.
"From one moment to another, from joy to pain," he said. "I am happy that the torrent of blood will stop, but we are living in misery."
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