Life returned to normal in Gaza today after five days of military standoff between Israel and the Islamic Jihad group that left 33 dead in the strip, while physical damage caused by Israeli strikes was visible in the streets and economic losses has been assessed in detail. more than 45 million euros.
As intense exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Palestinian militias ended last night following an Egyptian-mediated ceasefire, calm gradually returned to the coastal enclave. Most shops, companies, ministries or official institutions reopened this morning, while people went to work and resumed their daily routines.
After several days of closure due to bomb scare, the streets of Gaza again saw busy traffic. On the other hand, both schools and universities remained closed and students are expected to return to classes tomorrow.
The previous night, after the ceasefire was announced, residents of the Strip came out to celebrate the end of hostilities, which resulted in 33 deaths—18 militants and 15 civilians, including 7 children—in the Strip, as well as two in Israel. The people—an 80-year-old Israeli woman and Gazan himself with a work permit.
The Israeli bombardment – which was partly directed against the commanders of Islamic Jihad’s armed wing, 6 of whom were killed – also completely destroyed about 26 buildings, while about a hundred houses suffered severe or moderate damage.
Overall, the exchange of fire wounded 190 people in Gaza and 77 on the Israeli side.
After days of attacks, there is a sense of partial relief among Gaza’s population, although there are fears that the ceasefire will not last long and that the still-existing tensions between Israel and Islamic Jihad will lead to a new escalation that will further escalate. Much will affect the damage to the strip under a land, sea and air blockade by Israel since it came under control of the Islamist movement Hamas in 2007.
Similarly, the transportation of goods and passage of people into the enclave resumed after the opening by Israel of the Erez and Kerem Shalom crossings, as the Israeli military operation, called Shield and Arrow, began last Tuesday.
In Israeli cities and communities near Gaza, which have been hit hardest by intense rocket and mortar fire from the Strip these days, life is also returning to normal and restrictions on movement and assembly have been lifted.
