Abdul Rahman Salama is one of thousands of Palestinians in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, struggling to salvage supplies during the harsh winter. People here question what could happen next after mediators said Hamas and Israel are the closest to a ceasefire-hostage agreement in months.

As Abu Samir walks through his destroyed neighborhood, a place he says residents no longer recognize, he asks about the day after the fighting stops.

The war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has raged for 15 months, turning Gaza into a wasteland and displacing at least 90% of Palestinians since October 2023, according to the United Nations. More than 46,000 people have been killed – mostly women and children, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The death toll is likely to be much higher, with one study published in The Lancet journal last week estimating more than 64,000 people were killed in Gaza between October 7, 2023 and June 30, 2024 alone.

Saba Ahmed Abu Ouda said her friends were killed in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza, at the start of the war. She has been staying in a school building turned displacement center.

“We used to play together, make lunch, do our homework and study,” she said. “I’m sad I won’t find them when I go home.”

Noor, 12, said she has been displaced seven times during the war, and wants to see what happened to her school friend who she hasn’t heard from for a year after her home was destroyed.

“I just want to go home. I want my belongings, my toys, my memories,” she said.

Um Mohammad Abu Ubeid knows her house is unlikely to have survived in the largely leveled southern city of Rafah, but still dreams of returning.