Thursday, 28 August 2014

Palestinians Return Home After Gaza ceasefire

Thousands of Palestinians have begun to return to their homes after an open-ended truce with Israel was agreed.

Celebrations carried on after dark in Gaza City on Tuesday, as people poured into the battered streets, clapping and singing, after the truce was announced.

On Wednesday, fishing boats ventured out to sea as restrictions were eased.

The ceasefire brokered by Egypt brings to an end 50 days of fierce fighting in which more than 2,200 people have been killed, most of them Palestinians.

Hamas, the militant Islamist movement that dominates Gaza, said the agreement with Israel represented a “victory for the resistance”.

But an Israeli government official criticised Hamas, saying almost identical terms were available almost a month ago.

Life in Gaza was returning to normal on Wednesday, as thousands of people began returning to their homes.

Engineers meanwhile struggled to repair infrastructure damaged by Israeli air strikes and shellfire.

In Israel, sirens warning of incoming rocket fire were silent and the military said there had been no violations of the ceasefire since it took effect.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the end of hostilities, but warned that a brighter future for civilians who have been affected depends on a sustainable truce.

“After 50 days of profound human suffering and devastating physical destruction, any violations of the ceasefire would be utterly irresponsible,” he said.

The BBC’s Kevin Connolly in Jerusalem says any ceasefire only lasts up until the moment it is broken, but this latest deal does feel more durable than the ones that came and went before it.

The ceasefire deal calls for the relaxing of Israeli and Egyptian border controls to allow humanitarian supplies and construction materials into Gaza, and the widening of the territory’s fishing zone.

Both sides have agreed to address more contentious issues – including Palestinian demands for a seaport in Gaza and the release of Hamas prisoners in the West Bank, and Israel’s demand for Gaza’s militants to be disarmed – at indirect talks that should begin in Cairo within a month.

Inevitably, our correspondent says, both sides are also turning to the issue of who won and who lost.

The militant factions in Gaza lost fighters, leaders and supplies that will take time to replace. But Israel, for all its superior firepower, cannot really claim a decisive victory, our correspondent adds.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far made no comment, but Israeli media reported that he had chosen not to put Egypt’s ceasefire proposal to a vote in his security cabinet because of opposition from ministers who wanted to continue the offensive on Gaza.

Israel launched Operation Protective Edge on 8 July with the stated aim of ending rocket fire.

At least 2,140 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in Gaza, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Another 11,000 people have been injured.

The Israeli authorities say 64 Israeli soldiers have been killed, along with six Israeli civilians and a Thai national.

The UN says more than 17,000 buildings in Gaza have been destroyed or severely damaged, and that there are at least 475,000 internally displaced people, more than a quarter of the territory’s population.

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