Life slowly resumes in ravaged Gaza Strip

Gaza City, Palestinian Territories: Cafes reopened, fishermen set out to sea and shopkeepers dusted off shelves on Saturday as Gazans slowly resumed their daily lives after a deadly 11-day bloody Israeli assault on Gaza Strip.

Aid trickled into the Gaza, the blockaded enclave controlled by the Islamist group Hamas, as the focus turned to rebuilding the devastated territory a day after a ceasefire took hold.

The Egypt-brokered truce halted brutal Israeli air strikes on the crowded Palestinian territory and rockets fired by Palestinian groups at Israel since May 10.

Rescue workers searched for bodies or survivors in mounds of rubble after what Gazans referred to in the street as the latest "war" or "escalation" with the illegal Jewish state. In Gaza City’s port, Rami Abu Amira and a dozen other fisherman prepared their nets before heading out to sea for the first time in two weeks.

"We need to eat," he said after the Gaza coastguard allowed fishing again, though adding he would stick close to the coastline to stay safe.

"We, fishermen, are scared the Israeli navy will shoot at us. It’s up to everyone to decide whether to go or not."

The latest round of bombardment killed 248 people in Gaza, including 66 children, and wounded more than 1,900 since May 10, the Hamas-run health ministry says. On Friday evening in Gaza, Palestinian families had rushed to seaside cafes to breathe fresh air or smoke shisha. In a clothes store near the ruins of a ravaged tower block in the upscale neighbourhood of Rimal in Gaza City, mannequins still wore the latest 2021 trends, but they were now caked in dust. Bilal Mansur, 29, said all his merchandise had been ruined. "There’s dust everywhere, dust from the Israeli bombs clinging to the clothes. We won’t be able to sell them," he said.

Nearby store-owner Wael Amin al-Sharafa said he had stocked up his shop with new clothes to sell during the usually busy season of Eid-ul-Fitr at the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramazan. "But now it’s all lost," he said. "Who will pay for all this? I have no idea."

Convoys of lorries carrying aid began passing into Gaza Friday through the Kerem Shalom crossing after it was reopened by Israel, bringing much-needed medicine, food and fuel.

The UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund said it had released $18.5 million for humanitarian efforts.

The latest round of Israeli bombardment forced 91,000 people to flee their homes in Gaza, the UN humanitarian agency says.

It has hit 1,447 homes, completely destroying 205 residential blocks or homes, as well as ravaged electricity and water supply, according to the Gaza authorities.

The UN says three main desalination plants providing drinking water for more than 400,000 people have stopped working. Hamas’ political chief Ismail Haniyeh said they had "dealt a painful and severe blow that will leave its deep marks" on Israel, and thanked Iran for "providing funds and weapons".

The international community welcomed the ceasefire.

US President Joe Biden pledged to help organise efforts to rebuild Gaza and said creating a Palestinian state alongside Israel is the "only answer." "We still need a two-state solution," he said.

Peace talks have stalled since 2014 including over the key issues of the status of occupied east al-Quds and illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Despite the ceasefire, Israeli police on Friday fired stun grenades at worshippers in the highly sensitive Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Occupied-Al-Quds. Israeli forces beat an AFP photographer who was covering the unrest there. The incident was reminiscent of the tensions that sparked the latest round of Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip.

Israeli security forces had cracked down on protests against the illegal expulsion of Palestinian families from their homes to make way for illegal Jewish settlers in the occupied east Al-Quds neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah.