GAZA CITY HAMAS prime minister of the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniya, on Thursday called on all Palestinian factions to respect a truce deal reached with Israel a day earlier.
“I salute the resistance factions who have respected the agreement since it entered into force and I ask everyone to respect it and act accordingly,” Haniya said in a Gaza City speech.
Haniya also called on “the security services to follow up on the matter.” “We in the government bear the great responsibility of protecting our people and also protecting this agreement, which the occupation has committed to,” he said.
A truce to end eight days of violence in and around Gaza was agreed between Israel and Hamas and announced in Cairo on Wednesday evening, with Hamas expected to enforce its terms on the various militant groups in the Palestinian territory.
The deal calls on Israel to “stop all hostilities... in the land, sea and air, including incursions and targeting of individuals.” It also urges the Palestinian factions to end “rocket attacks and all attacks along the border.” During the eight eightday operation, the Israeli army said it hit more than 1,500 targets, as Gaza militants fired 1,354 rockets over the border, of which 933 struck Israel and another 421 were intercepted by the Iron Dome defence system.
The Hamas-run health ministry said the air strikes killed 163 Palestinians and wounded 1,235, while in Israel five people, including a soldier, were killed by rocket fire and another 280 wounded, army figures showed.
Life in Gaza began returning to normal on Thursday with a public holiday to mark a ceasefire that ended a violent eight-day confrontation with the Israeli military.
After days and nights cooped up at home, their buildings rocked by an unrelenting Israeli bombing campaign and the sound of outgoing Palestinian rocket fire, residents were eager to reclaim their hometowns and their lives.
For the first time in more than a week, the noise of traffic jams and honking horns filled the air in Gaza City, replacing the terrifying booms of air strikes and rocket fire.
Traffic police returned to the streets to try to direct the chaos, to no great effect, as people stopped by newspaper vendors to pick up a daily or ate breakfast at one of the falafel stands dotting the city.
Shop owners began to reopen, some for the first time since the violence began on November 14 with Israel’s targeted killing of a senior Hamas military commander.
Some swept the pavement in front of their shops, as locals formed short queues in front of cash machines, withdrawing money now that places were open for business again.
On Wednesday, the ruling Hamas government announced that Thursday be a public holiday.
“The Palestinian government announces that Thursday 22nd November is a national holiday of victory and an official holiday,” it said in a statement.
It “invites all citizens to celebrate this occasion and visit the families of the martyrs and the wounded and those affected by the violence and to affirm national solidarity”.
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