Deir el-Balah, Gaza — Late on October 8, 2025, while everyone else in the house was asleep, I lay awake scrolling through my phone and journalist chat groups for updates. There were conflicting accounts from the ceasefire talks — of progress, setbacks, hope and doubt.

As my phone battery dwindled, I finally drifted off to sleep, stirred occasionally by distant shelling that told me what my phone couldn’t.

When I awoke just before dawn on October 9, my wi-fi was dead. I rushed to the roof, searching for an eSIM signal. The sun was rising as updates loaded onto my phone, and there it was: “Announcement of a ceasefire agreement in Gaza — to take effect within hours.”

I looked at the houses and tents where everyone still slept, saddened that we were the last to know. Then joy hit me. “Wake

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