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Skies calm over Gaza as long-term truce takes hold

“Such a plan will enable a proper and decent life for the people of Gaza, as well as protect the security of the people of Israel.”

 

– ‘Can’t believe I’m still alive’ –

 

In Gaza itself thousands flooded onto the streets in celebration, some firing joyfully into the air, among them gunmen from Hamas, AFP correspondents said.

Chanting and clapping, they surged through the battered streets, bellowing songs of victory as a man swathed in a huge green Hamas flag threw handfuls of sweets into the air.

“Thank God the war is ended. I can’t believe I’m still alive with my kids!” 32 year old Maha Khaled told AFP.

“It was a very harsh war. I never thought that we would see peace at the end.”

Cars jammed the streets, their horns honking incessantly, as beaming women and children flashed victory signs and crowds of young men bounced up and down on rooftops, waving flags.

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As night fell, there was no letup in the celebrations as the rhythmic thud of drums beat a celebratory pulse and a performer breathed fire to entertain the ecstatic crowd.

“Today Gaza showed the world that it is resisting and that it is stronger than Israel,” said Tamer al Madqa, 23.

 

– ‘Ending the blockade’ –

 

News of the agreement first emerged from the West Bank city of Ramallah where a Palestinian official told AFP that an elusive “permanent ceasefire” deal would involve an end to Israel’s eight-year blockade of Gaza.

Ending the blockade had been a key Palestinian demand in truce talks, with Hamas hailing the agreement as a “victory for the resistance”.

“The Egyptian initiative (includes) an opening of the crossings for goods and humanitarian and food aid to enter Gaza, as well as medical supplies and materials to repair the water, electricity and mobile phone networks,” chief Palestinian truce negotiator Azzam al Ahmed told AFP.

Restrictions on fishing would end “immediately” with boats allowed to fish up to six miles (10 kilometres) offshore with the limit later extended to 12 miles, he said.

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There was no immediate word on when the crossings would be opened under terms outlined in the deal, or whether the fishing zone extension was in place.

At a later, unspecified date, the two sides would return to Cairo to discuss “the exchange of (Palestinian) prisoners and of the bodies of those (Israeli soldiers) killed” during the conflict, Ahmed said.

Egypt’s foreign ministry confirmed there would be a “continuation of indirect negotiations between the two sides on other matters within one month of the ceasefire taking effect.”

A senior Israeli official said the talks would resume in Cairo “within a month,” saying its delegation would be “raising our concerns about demilitarisation and preventing Hamas from rearming.”

But in his first public appearance since the start of the war, senior Hamas official Mahmud al Zahar, who like other Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders had gone to ground to avoid being assassinated by Israel, pledged its military wing would continue “arming itself and developing its resistance capacity”.

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