Gazans crowd streets, restock during brief truce

July 17, 2014 06:27 pm | Updated December 04, 2021 11:27 pm IST - GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip:

Israeli soldiers ride on a military vehicle near the Israel-Gaza Border, on Thursday.

Israeli soldiers ride on a military vehicle near the Israel-Gaza Border, on Thursday.

Gaza residents crowded banks, vegetable markets and shops on Thursday, taking advantage of a brief cease-fire that offered the first respite from 10 days of fierce fighting between Hamas and Israel, while the conflict looked set to resume within hours.

The truce was briefly thrown into doubt when Gaza militants fired three mortar shells toward Israel after the truce took effect at 10 a.m, but it appeared to be an isolated incident, and Israel did not respond.

Gaza City, a virtual ghost town for the past 10 days, returned to apparent normalcy within minutes of the start of the truce. Streets were jammed, motorists honked horns and Hamas police directed traffic at busy intersections.

Crowds of hundreds formed outside banks, with people jostling and shouting to get to ATM machines. In an outdoor market, shoppers filled plastic bags with fruit, vegetables and freshly slaughtered chickens.

The rush to restock signalled that Gaza residents don’t expect a quick end to the fighting. Egypt renewed cease-fire efforts after its initial attempt collapsed earlier in the week, but the demands of Israel and Hamas remain far apart.

“’The situation is likely to get worse because there is no clear way out of it,” said Moussa Amran, 43, a money changer in central Gaza City.

Israel accepted Egypt’s initial call earlier this week to halt all hostilities, but Hamas rejected the idea because it does not want to return to the situation before the outbreak of fighting. An intensified Egyptian border blockade of Gaza over the past year, combined with long-running Israeli restrictions on access, had severely weakened the Islamic militant group.

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri insisted that the cease-fire deal was still alive and expressed frustration that “Palestinian factions” - a clear reference to Hamas - had not agreed to it.

Thursday’s temporary truce, brokered by the United Nations, came after Israel carried out nearly 2,000 air strikes on Gaza over 10 days and Hamas fired more than 1,300 rockets into Israel, reaching the country’s economic and cultural heartland. The cross-border fighting has so far killed more than 230 Palestinians and an Israeli, according to officials.

Fighting continued early Thursday in the lead-up to the cease-fire, with the military saying it foiled an attack by 13 militants who sneaked into Israel through a tunnel from Gaza. Israeli aircraft struck the fighters at the mouth of the tunnel some 250 meters (820 feet) inside Israel, near a kibbutz.

Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a military spokesman, said the military believed at least one militant was killed in the strike and that the remaining fighters appeared to have returned to Gaza through the tunnel.

Footage released by the military showed a number of individuals creeping slowly toward what appeared to be a hole in the ground. A separate shot showed an explosion from an airstrike on the tunnel entrance.

Lerner said the militants were armed with “extensive weapons,” including rocket—propelled grenades.

It was the second time militants attempted to sneak into Israel in this round of fighting. Last week, four fighters were killed when they infiltrated Israel from the sea.

The military also said 15 rockets were fired at Israel Thursday morning, including toward areas in the center, some 90 kilometers (55 miles) from the Gaza Strip.

In fighting early Thursday, Israeli aircraft struck 37 targets, including the homes of senior Hamas leaders Fathi Hamad and Khalil al-Haya, the military said.

Three people were killed by a tank shell that hit a house in the southern town of Rafah, the Hamas—run police and Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Kidra said.

The Gaza Interior Ministry had earlier said that 30 houses were struck in the Israeli raids. Four people were killed and a 75—year—old woman died of wounds suffered the day before, the ministry said.

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