Gazans' hope of lasting peace shatters after truce fails

GAZA CITY — Many Gazans had hoped nine days of calm here, after six weeks of fighting that leveled neighborhoods, would turn into a lasting peace, but those hopes were dashed this week as hostilities renewed and peace talks failed.

"The war is the most brutal one so far," said Fatima Rashad, 50, a teacher in Gaza City. "We hoped that the last temporary cease-fire would lead to a lasting truce."

Egypt-brokered talks in Cairo failed Tuesday after Israel retaliated with airstrikes against a barrage of rocket fire from Gaza just hours before a cease-fire aimed at establishing a long-term truce ended.

Talks had been deadlocked, with neither side showing much willingness to compromise. Hamas demands an end to the Israeli-Egyptian Gaza blockade, which restricts movement of goods and people there, while Israel insists that Hamas disarm.

The break in fighting had allowed Gazans to bury their dead and survey the damage to their homes, neighborhoods and businesses. The United Nations says some 16,800 homes have been destroyed in Gaza, while 360 factories and workshops were damaged, resulting in losses of around $190 million, according to initial assessments by the Palestinian Federation of Industries in Gaza.

"The destruction caused by Israeli attacks is even more than an earthquake," said taxi driver Nael Dohdar, 31, in Gaza City. "I could not recognize some streets in Shijaiyah (a neighborhood in Gaza). I feel sorry for those who lost their homes — some lost their homes for the third time in the past (six years)."

War-weary Gazans, who are experiencing their third conflict in six years, say they want to start reconstruction and build a new life for themselves and their families.

"I hope that this mad war ends as soon as possible," said Kamel Owidah, 42, a driver from Jabalia in northern Gaza. "We are very exhausted, without electricity, water, services — we want a lasting truce that will allow us to rebuild what has been destroyed."

More than 2,000 Palestinians have been killed since July 8, with dozens of those deaths coming in the days since hostilities resumed, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. On the Israeli side, 68 have been killed, most of them soldiers, according to the Israeli military.

The renewed fighting has stalled recovery in the narrow strip of land with 1.8 million inhabitants, which is already struggling with power outages and water, food and medicine shortages, according to the United Nations.

"Humanitarian operations are at stake, and early recovery planning is paralyzed," said the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in its situation report Wednesday. "With no end in sight to current hostilities, UNRWA is preparing for the continued provision of humanitarian aid to the displaced. The agency will put into practice more sustainable solutions for Palestinians forced to stay in UNRWA schools."

The U.N. said that more than 260,000 displaced people are currently living in its shelters and that 235,000 students enrolled at its schools won't be able to return this fall because of the renewed violence.

Some Gaza residents blame Israel for violating the truce, saying Palestinians want an end to the conflict.

"We are very exhausted from this war, the longest in the history of the over six decades of conflict," said Mona Haigy, a mother of five from Nusirat, a small village south of Gaza City. "Of course we want an end to Israeli attacks, but it was them who started this war. It was them who violated this truce and keeps provoking Palestinians."

But Owidah acknowledged that Israelis want peace as well.

"We are certain that Israelis, too, who live in settlements on the Israeli side of the border fence are exhausted, and they want an end to the violence," he said.

Al-Helou reported from London.