This spoken word piece is based on a LinkedIn post by Dr. Mohamed Abu Mughaisib, Deputy Medical Coordinator Médecins Sans Frontières, in Gaza.

A ceasefire is coming. But don’t mistake it for peace.

I won’t celebrate. Many of us won’t.

Because what are we going back to?

No homes.

No water.

No electricity.

No hospitals.

No clinics. Not even dental ones.

No schools. No universities.

No markets. No roads.

No life.

We are still displaced. Still living in tents. Still searching for the pieces of a life that was taken from us.

This “ceasefire” is not a solution, just 60 days of silence from the bombs.

But the pain stays. The losses stay.

Will it bring back my memories?

Will it bring back my loved ones?

Will it bring back my future?

Some of us lost everything: our families, our homes, our identities.

We are not okay. We carry wounds that no ceasefire can heal.

No ceasefire can bring back the dead.

No ceasefire can rebuild what was erased.

No ceasefire can heal a soul shattered by war.

We don’t need a pause in airstrikes.

We need justice.

We need life.

We need dignity.

Until then, don’t ask us to smile.

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