Gazans regroup and bury the dead

GAZA CITY: Shell-shocked Gazans sifted through rubble caused by three days of deadly fighting between Israel and Islamic Jihad militants, as an Egypt-brokered truce held and life slowly returned to normal.

The ceasefire late on Sunday night, local time, ended the intense fighting that killed 46 people, including 16 children, and wounded 360 others in the enclave, according to Gaza’s health ministry, updating an earlier death toll of 44.

Israel had launched a heavy aerial and artillery bombardment of Islamic Jihad positions in the Gaza Strip, leading the militants to fire more than a thousand rockets in retaliation, the Israeli army said.

On Monday evening, nearly a day since the truce began, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid (pictured) gave a televised address saying the bombardment had “landed a devastating blow to the enemy”, and that the “entire senior military command of Islamic Jihad in Gaza was successfully targeted”.

As relative calm returned to Gaza, and electricity was restored, Palestinians tried to salvage their belongings from the rubble of shattered homes.

“We received the news of the ceasefire with joy and happiness and we went back to our work,” said Gaza shopkeeper Hazem Douima. “We did not want more bloodshed.”

Bereaved families buried their dead, including at one funeral joined by hundreds of mourners in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip where a family laid to rest four young children killed in the conflict.

“Gaza is tending to its wounds,” said one resident, Mohammed Alai.

Gaza’s sole power plant, after a two-day shutdown, “started working to generate electricity”, said spokesman Mohammed Thabet, hours after fuel trucks passed the reopened border crossing.

The outage had sparked fears about the impact on hospitals overwhelmed with casualties during Gaza’s worst fighting since an 11-day war with militant movement Hamas last year.