GAZA, May 22 (NNN-XINHUA) – Calm dominated the Gaza Strip yesterday, after an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire took effect, between Israel and militant groups led by the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), eyewitnesses said.
Violent tension and 11 days of a tit-for-tat trade of fire in the besieged coastal enclave ended at 2:00 a.m. local time, yesterday (2300 GMT Thursday) after the cease-fire came into effect.
Abu Obeida, spokesman of Hamas armed wing, al-Qassam Brigades, said, in a recorded speech that, militant groups halted firing rockets at Israel to make the cease-fire successful.
Right after the fighting ended, the health ministry’s rescue teams started working, to search for missing people under the rubble of hundreds of buildings that were destroyed in the last 11 days.
In the southern Gaza Strip, the rescue teams found 10 Palestinians dead, who were buried under the rubble of a completely destroyed building, struck on Thursday evening, according to health ministry spokesman in Gaza, Ashraf al-Qedra.
He added, another girl was found dead under the rubble of a house in Gaza city, which was destroyed by Israeli fighter jets on Thursday night.
“The death toll since the start of the aggression on the Gaza Strip reached 243, including 66 children, 39 women and 17 elderly,” al-Qedra said, adding that, 1,910 were injured.
A Palestinian government official said on Thursday that, more than 1,800 housing units in Gaza have been destroyed, as a result of Israeli attacks.
Naji Sarhan, a senior official of the Ministry of Public Works and Housing in Gaza, said that more than 17,000 housing units were partially damaged, according to initial estimates of the losses.
Sarhan said, five large residential towers were completely demolished, while 74 government facilities and headquarters were destroyed.
He added, the ministry’s staff has been working round the clock since the beginning of the tension, to remove rubble of the destroyed houses.
Sarhan said, financial losses for the demolition of buildings and residential facilities hit about 150 million U.S. dollars, according to preliminary estimates, adding that, the ministry needs 350 million dollars to rebuild the housing sector.– NNN-XINHUA
