Gaza residents take stock of damage as ceasefire holds

The fighting between Israel and Hamas has left 800,00 people in Gaza without access to clean piped water

GAZA CITY, GAZA STRIP: Egyptian mediators held talks on Saturday to firm up an Israel-hamas ceasefire as Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip began to assess the damage from 11 days of intense Israeli bombardment.

Saturday marked the first full day of a truce that ended the fourth Israel-hamas war in just over a decade. In the fighting,

Israel unleashed hundreds of airstrikes against militant targets in Gaza, while Hamas and other militants fired more than 4,000 rockets towards Israel. More than 250 people were killed, the vast majority of them Palestinians.

Gaza City’s busiest commercial area, Omar al-mukhtar Street, was covered in debris, smashed cars and twisted metal after a 13-floor building in its centre was flattened in an Israeli airstrike.

Merchandise was covered in soot and strewn inside smashed stores and on the pavement. Municipal workers removed broken glass and twisted metal from streets and sidewalks.

The United Nations said approximately 800,000 people in Gaza do not have regular access to clean piped water, as nearly 50% of the water network was damaged in the recent fighting.

Quoting Gaza’s public works and housing ministry, the UN ’s office for the coordination of humanitarian Affairs said nearly 17,000 residential and commercial units have been damaged or destroyed in the campaign.

These include 769 housing and commercial units that have been rendered uninhabitable, at least 1,042 units in some 258 buildings which have been destroyed and another 14,538 units that have suffered minor damage.

The UN said 53 education facilities, six hospitals and 11 primary health care centres have been damaged since May 10. One health centres was severely damaged, the UN said, while one hospital is not operational because of lack of electricity. Schools in Gaza remain closed, affecting almost 600,000 children.

Naji Sarhan, deputy of Gaza’s works and housing ministry, told The Associated Press on Saturday that the estimated financial losses from the fighting at $150 million. He says assessment is still ongoing.

Separately, Egypt said it would send a 130-truck convoy carrying humanitarian aid and medical supplies to Gaza.

UN to provide $18.6mn in humanitarian aid to Gaza

The United Nations has allocated $18.6 million to Gaza for emergency humanitarian needs and plans to launch a flash appeal next week for funds to cover needs over the next three months.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock allocated $4.5 million from the UN’S emergency relief fund for Gaza, following the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas militants who control the Gaza Strip.

Earlier in the week, Lowcock released $14.1 million from the fund.

Blinken to visit Israel, West Bank on May 26-27

US secretary of state Antony Blinken will visit Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank on May 2627 as part of Washington’s efforts to build on the Gaza truce, a source briefed on the planning said on Saturday.