Ain al-Hilweh – The shooting has stopped, and the residents of Ein al-Hilweh camp are beginning to return to their last refuge, their hearts beating quickly, their eyes pointing towards the military dashm, and the smell of garbage spreading between their homes and in the camp's main market.

The movement is light in the market, people light their cigarettes and blow their worries that were reflected on their faces, they look at us with sorrow, and a voice rises from the end of the market to tell us, "Look what our compatriots have done to us."

During our stay in the camp, there were individual and collective initiatives to remove rubble, remove waste and clean the streets with water, but most importantly, according to the camp's residents, security and safety and not just a warrior's break followed by another round that may be blown up by a detonator One of the conditions of the settlement, most notably the extradition of the accused members of the "Muslim Youth" gathering for the killing of Fatah leader Major General Abu Firas al-Armouchi and his companions.

We continue walking in Ain al-Hilweh camp, where walking was difficult because of the crowds, and shoppers came from all over the camp and even from outside, but life in Ain al-Hilweh "during and after the clashes was destroyed", according to Ibrahim al-Maqdah, a vegetable vendor in the market.

Garbage invades the main vegetable market in Ein al-Hilweh camp (Al-Jazeera)

New Nakba

"Despite the difficult conditions and living, people used to make a living, sell and buy, and the market has not yet recovered, and the residents no longer stay for long periods in the market as in the past, but rather shop quickly and return to their homes, not to mention the thousands displaced by the clashes and who are afraid to return, and people are left to their fates, and business is completely suspended because of these clashes, which only benefit the Zionist enemy," al-Muqdah said.

He pointed out that "we are all losers, and if we do not maintain the camp with all our strength, we will regret it, I hope that the wise and wise people ask the bearers of weapons to stop because we can no longer bear a new catastrophe, what is happening now is destruction for an already afflicted people who do not even have their daily livelihood."

We touch Ibrahim's words with our eyes and hearts, and we see his fear for his future and the future of his camp through the eyes of the people, as if this latest round of clashes constituted a harsh lesson for everyone that made Hajja Maryam Ali say that the clashes "set the Palestinian people back 100 years because of the deployment of barricades among the sons of the same people."

The 86-year-old woman, who came out of her Palestinian village of Manshiet Acre at the age of 12, said she would "not leave her house in the camp even if it is destroyed above her head.

She demanded that everyone ally and try to relieve the people and achieve their hopes, stressing that "one hand does not clap."

Residents of Ain al-Hilweh camp want life to return to the way it was before the clashes (Al Jazeera)

Feeling safe

Salah Awad, a resident of the camp, pointed out that 60% of the camp's residents were displaced outside the camp and are suffering, and their suffering increased after the economic crisis.

Awad explained that "the movement of the vegetable market currently does not exceed 2% of its usual movement, and after you needed an hour on foot to reach its end now it takes minutes."

It seemed clear that the "sense of security" is what bothers the residents of Ain al-Hilweh, as they consider it more important than bread, which was expressed by Ibrahim Hourani, a worker in an oven in the camp, who said that he "opened the oven from the first moment of the announcement of the ceasefire, but fear still hangs over the camp, only the residents of the neighborhood buy pies, while the rest of the camp residents have not yet come because of the garbage and waste, after the deployment of the security forces, the situation began to improve gradually," and concluded what we ask is "to live Safely."

We leave the camp, leaving behind people in a period of anticipation and waiting, anticipation of the present and waiting for what the future holds for them: another asylum or stability?