The truce has brought an end to 11 days of violence.
There has been an outpouring of joy and relief in Gaza as citizens celebrated the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Since May 10 the region has seen its worst violence since 2014 as Israel and Hamas exchanged rocket fire and aerial bombardments. At 2am on Friday an unconditional ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began.
After the 11 days of conflict, Gaza’s health ministry reports that 232 Palestinians have died during the violence, with a further 1,900 wounded. Israel’s death toll stands at at least 12.
Insider reports that after the news of the ceasefire was announced, there were scenes of joy and celebration in Gaza, with singing and dancing as Palestinians cheered peace in the city.
The peace deal was brokered by Egypt, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyuhu has said that Israel will take part in international efforts to rebuild Gaza. However he clarified that they would work with the Palestinian Authority – a semi-autonomous group representing much of the Palestinian territories – and not Hamas.
Hamas has said that “the Palestinian resistance will abide by this agreement as long as the occupation abides by it.” The New York Times reports that over the 10 days of fighting, more than 4,000 rockets were fired at Israel from Gaza, although Israeli defences intercepted the vast majority of these.
The sound of rockets in the air was replaced by fireworks, with scenes of children flashing peace signs as the city celebrated the end of a conflict that has taken a huge toll on it.
It’s thought that around 72,000 people were displaced during the bombardments on the city and many have been forced into shelters set up by the United Nations.
It remains to be seen now how long this latest ceasefire will last between the two sides, in a long-running conflict that in which tensions have boiled over between the territories on several occasions over recent decades. The most notable of these was in 2014, a seven week conflict between Israel and Hamas in which more than 2,000 were killed.
