Gaza ceasefire takes effect after five days of deadly fighting

A ceasefire was in effect on the Gaza Strip Sunday, drawing people back into the streets after five days of cross-border exchanges killed at least 34 Palestinians and one Israeli.

The truce got off to a rough start after the final 30 minutes running up to the expected deadline saw a volley of fire.

Dozens of rockets were launched from Gaza towards Israel, prompting renewed air strikes, AFP correspondents in the territory said.

Egypt brokered the latest ceasefire, saying it had secured agreement from both Israel and the Palestinian.

“Israel’s National Security Adviser Tsahi Hanegbi… thanked Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and expressed the State of Israel’s appreciation for Egypt’s vigorous efforts to bring about a ceasefire,” a statement from the Israeli prime minister’s office said.

– ‘What have we done?’ –

For days, life in Gaza and Israeli communities near the border has been a daily routine of air strikes and sirens warning of incoming rocket fire.

Residents in the crowded Gaza Strip cowered indoors as the fighting raged, with streets empty and only a few shops and pharmacies open.

“The whole Palestinian people are suffering,” Muhammad Muhanna, 58, told AFP in the ruins of his home. “What have we done?”

In Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, a dead donkey lay in the ruins of a row of buildings levelled in an Israeli strike.

“No one is safe in their homes,” said Imad Rayan, 64.

A spokesman for the interior ministry in Gaza said on the final day of its campaign the Israeli military had concentrated on “targeting civilians, residential and civilian buildings”.

There had been mounting calls for a ceasefire to be agreed, including from Israel’s closest ally, the United States.

The White House welcomed the agreement and commended Egypt and Qatar’s roles in defusing hostilities.

Egypt had kept up its mediation effort despite repeated setbacks.

On Saturday, shrapnel from a rocket fired from Gaza hit a building site in Sdot Negev, just over the border into Israel, killing one man and wounding another. Both were day labourers from Gaza.