The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible.

Maximillian Alvarez:

Alright. Welcome everyone to Working People, a podcast about the lives, jobs, dreams, and struggles of the working class today. Working People is a proud member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network and is brought to you in partnership within these Times Magazine and the Real News Network. This show is produced by Jules Taylor and made possible by the support of listeners like you. My name is Maximilian Alvarez and we’ve got a short but extremely important episode for you guys today. Back in September, we published an intense and harrowing interview with two Palestinians in Gaza, Mohamed Abu Tawila, a former English teacher and his nephew, Abdul Rahman, a would-be college student displaced by the war. These are two men who had somehow managed to survive what was then at the time, 700 days of genocidal bombing, shooting for starvation, and the systematic destruction of life and civilization as such, all at the hands of Israel’s military and with the full backing of the United States.

I spoke in that interview to Mohamed and Abdul Rahman about their daily struggle to survive in the midst of a genocide in the middle of a 22 mile open air killing field that is the Gaza Strip. We also talked about the vital lifesaving and dangerous operation that they have been running during the war to secure and transport clean water to people around Gaza who are clinging to life and have no other access to water to drink. They have been using crowdsourced money that people donate online to rent trucks and buy fuel, which is extremely expensive and in short supply under the blockade and deliver treated water to fellow Goins who desperately need it. Now. We recorded and published that interview before News of the latest ceasefire agreement was announced at the end of September, and Shakily implemented on October 10th, and when I say Shakily implemented, it’s because I’m reading daily and weekly updates from trusted journalists and Gaza and outlets covering Gaza.

Like this latest report from Tareq S. Hajjaj in Mondoweiss, which was published on October 29th, the Israeli army announced that a soldier in Rafa had been killed by gunfire on Tuesday before the source of the gunfire could be confirmed. Netanyahu blamed it on Hamas and gave the order for the Army to launch powerful strikes on Gaza. The resumption, the Israeli bombing campaign killed over a hundred people, 46 of whom were children, and 20 of whom were women according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. On Wednesday, Hamas released a statement saying it had nothing to do with the incident and that it remained fully committed to the ceasefire agreement in all areas. Nevertheless, the Israeli army carried out the attacks across several locations in Gaza. An army statement later said that Israeli forces had struck 30 terrorists holding command positions in the strip. Later on Wednesday, the Israeli army announced that it was resuming the ceasefire agreement after having killed over a hundred people in a single night.

Tuesday’s, airstrikes were not the first time Israel bombed Gaza. During the ongoing ceasefire agreement under the pretense that Hamas had violated the ceasefire. On October 19th, the Israeli army said that Hamas had violated the ceasefire following an explosion in Rafa that led to the death of two Israeli soldiers. Israel claimed Hamas was responsible despite the resistance group’s denial of the accusation and the later emergence of reports that the explosion was from an Israeli bulldozer running over unexploded ordinance. The army killed over a dozen people. In its retaliation, Mondo Weiss reviewed the records of the people killed in airstrikes. Since the ceasefire went into effect, the evidence points to an Israeli tactic of assassinating resistance fighters that had evaded detection during the war under the pretext of retaliation for alleged violations of the ceasefire by Hamas. In essence, Israel is continuing to carry out its war during the ceasefire.

Now, we’ll link to that piece in Monde Weiss and a few others so that you can read more on the situation in Gaza and with the ceasefire. But today to give y’all an on the ground view of life in Gaza after the ceasefire began and to provide y’all with a critical update on our last interview with Muhammad and Abdul Achman, I was able to get back in touch with Muhammad and send him some questions. Then he recorded his answers and sent them back to me with the little internet connection he has. Once again, we have provided links in the show notes of this episode to Mohammed’s Instagram account and to the Instagram and crowdfunding pages for the water delivery operation, which is called Living Water Mutual Aid in Gaza. If you want updates on the water operation or if you want to contribute to it, you can find all the info you need there and now without further ado, here is my short conversation with former English teacher Mohamed Abu Tawila in Gaza in the wake of the new tenuous ceasefire.

Mohamed Abu Tawila:

Hello everyone. My name Mohamed Abu Tawila from Gaza, and I am speaking to you from Gaza. I want to express my sincere graduated to generous Maximilian es for his fearless efforts to bring the voice of people in Gaza to the world and for giving us this space to speak honestly about our suffering and our hopes after two years of war and genocide. I am entirely honored to be here today sharing with you what life is real like on the ground, what you are feeling and what we are dreaming of in these days that we hope will mark the beginning of a more peaceful and dignified life for every person in Gaza.

Maximillian Alvarez:

Well, Mohamed, brother, it is really, really great to hear your voice, even if we can’t be communicating on a live conversation, just knowing that you’re there, hearing your voice is really, really special and I’m really, really grateful to you for staying in contact with us and giving us these critical updates, and I wanted to ask if we could start by just having you tell us what were you thinking and feeling when the ceasefire began? What does this news mean to you and your family? After two years of genocide?

Mohamed Abu Tawila:

When the cease fire began, I felt a mix of disbelief and emptiness. After two years of genocide, silence felt strange, almost frightening. My family and I, we relieved the bombing stopped, but we couldn’t celebrate. We have lost too much ,our homes, our friends, our peace. Still this news gives a small spark of hope. Maybe we can breathe again, maybe we can start replying our lives. But in Gaza, every ceasefire feels regular, like a short pause between storms.

Maximillian Alvarez:

Can you describe what life has been like in Gaza in these past few weeks since the ceasefire began? How were Palestinians reacting? What are people doing thinking and feeling now that the bombing has at least temporarily stopped

Mohamed Abu Tawila:

Since the ceasefire began, people in Gaza are living between temporarily relief that the bombing has a storm and deep solar for what the war left behind. Many people have returned to their homes only to find wide the spread destruction and rub trying to clean up or build symbol shelter. Aid has started to enter, but is still very limited, and services remain almost nonexisting. Despite the ban and loss, Palestinian are showing resilience and cautious hope that this truth could be the beginning of safer life.

Maximillian Alvarez:

Can you describe what Gaza looks like right now? What is left of the Gaza Strip?

Mohamed Abu Tawila:

Gaza now looks almost completely destroyed. Entire neighbor hoods have been live, roads are broken, and water and electricity are near Neal. People live among the rubble or in temporarily tense trying to clean up about life of their homes. Life is extremely hard, but despite the massive destruction, Palestinians continues to show resilience and hope to oblig.

Maximillian Alvarez:

In our last interview together, we talked about your efforts to get clean water to people in Gaza. Can you remind listeners about those efforts and why they are so important and are you still trying to get water to people now as we speak?

Mohamed Abu Tawila:

Yes, I am still working to provide the clean water for the siblings families in Gaza. As water has become extremely scarce and almost sources are either contaminated or salt, I’m currently distributing water tanks to families in camps and shelter, and we are working to expand these offers to reach more areas, especially with the rising temperature and the destruction, the water network.

Maximillian Alvarez:

What do people in Gaza need most right now and what can people around the world do to help?

Mohamed Abu Tawila:

People in Gaza now need water, food, safe shelter, and medical care. Life is extremely difficult. After the destruction and lake of basic services. People around the world can help by supporting trust, humanitarian campaigns, spearing awareness, and brushing for aid, AEs, even small acts of support can make a really different.

Maximillian Alvarez:

Do you have hope that the war will truly end? What dreams do you have for the future of your life, your family, and your country?

Mohamed Abu Tawila:

Despite everything we have been through, yes, I still have a great hope that the war will entirely end, because the people of Gaza are excited from ban and destruction and only want to live in peace. I dream of seeing my country free and safe with home being built and instead of destroyed and school filled with children left and instead of the sound of bombs on a personal level, I dream of living a simple, dignified life with my family and begin apply to travel abroad to continue my education so that one day I can return and help replied Gaza with new knowledge and experience.

Maximillian Alvarez:

As you know man, this podcast is by workers and for workers. Do you have any final messages that you want to send from Gaza to working people around the world after you’ve endured two years of genocide?

Mohamed Abu Tawila:

My message to workers everywhere is one of resilience and unity from Gaza. I say to you, you know what hard works means and what it means to keep standing despite span and laws Here, we continue life with the same hands that replied among the rebel. Just as you build a better world with efforts and never, I ask you to never forget Gaza and to keep rising your voice for justice and freedom because workers everywhere share the same dream, to live with dignity and bees and to see the fruit of their hard work in a better future for the children.

Maximillian Alvarez:

All right, gang, that’s going to wrap things up for us this week. I want to send my sincerest and most heartfelt thanks to Mohamed Abu Tawila for giving us these critical updates from Gaza and for everything he and others are doing to provide mutual aid to their fellow Palestinians in need. Again, if you want to learn more about those mutual aid efforts, follow the links that we’ve provided in the show notes to this episode, and of course, I want to thank you all for listening and I want to thank you for continuing to care about this. We’ll see y’all back here next week for another episode of Working People, and if you can’t wait that long, then please go explore all the great work that we’re doing at the Real News Network where we do grassroots journalism that lifts up the voices and stories from the front lines of struggle, and that includes dozens of documentary reports from Gaza and the occupied West Bank that we published in just the last two years alone. I beg you, please watch them, please share them. Please help us get these stories out there to as many people as possible. Sign up for the Real News Newsletter so you never miss a story and help us do more work like this by going to the real news.com/donate and becoming a supporter today. I promise you it really makes a difference. I’m Maximillian Alvarez. Take care of yourselves. Take care of each other. Solidarity forever.