PalCast released a new episode titled “The Ceasefire and Counting Our Losses,” featuring Palestinian poet, translator, and writer Baraa’h Qandeel from Gaza. Baraa’h, who works in marketing, lost friends and family during the genocide and survived a nearby airstrike that left her in shock for hours. In her conversation with hosts Yousef and Tony, she reflected on the ceasefire and how people around her viewed it, giving voice to the shared exhaustion, skepticism, and grief that have marked daily life in Gaza.
During the discussion, Baraa’h described the so-called ceasefire as an uneasy pause rather than an end to suffering. Many Gazans, she explained, felt numb and distrustful after years of broken truces and unfulfilled promises. Despite the announcement, Israeli forces continued to occupy much of Gaza, and residents were still being shot at near their homes. These conditions, she said, made it hard for people to believe that real peace was near or even possible.
The episode also revealed the grim reality behind recent reports. Bodies returned by Israel showed signs of torture and organ removal, sparking anger and grief among families. Baraa’h shared stories of those who had endured imprisonment and loss, including a 24-year-old who spent over a year in Israeli jails. She spoke of how Gazans often gathered in what she called “triggering sessions,” which are conversations where friends processed memories, losses, and trauma together because formal mourning was still a luxury few could afford.
Beyond the emotional pain, Baraa’h highlighted Gaza’s ongoing humanitarian crisis. Food and medicine remained scarce, prices dropped slowly, and the borders stayed mostly closed. Her poetry, she noted, had changed through all of this, becoming raw, stripped of distance, and heavy with emotion. The episode painted a clear picture of a people living between survival and grief, questioning what a ceasefire truly meant when life itself remained under siege.
The episode “The Ceasefire and Counting Our Losses” is now available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.