GAZA, Jan 21 (Reuters/AP/AFP): On foot or riding rickshaws, many Palestinians exhausted by war in Gaza began returning to the ruins of their homes on the third day of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, shocked by complete destruction.
The truce took effect on Sunday after 15 months of conflict with the handover of the first three hostages held by Hamas and the release of 90 Palestinians from Israeli jails.
Now attention is starting to shift to the rebuilding of the coastal enclave which the Israeli military has laid to waste in its campaign to eliminate Hamas in retaliation for the militant group's Oct 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Some Gazans couldn't even recognise where they once lived and turned their back on shattered neighbourhoods to return to tents where they have sheltered for the past several months. Others began to clear debris to try to move back to the wreckage of their homes.
"We are cleaning the house, and removing the rubble, so we are able to return home. Those are the quilts, pillows, nothing was left at the house," said Palestinian woman Walaa El-Err, pointing to her destroyed belongings at her bombed-out home in Nuseirat, a decades-old refugee camp in central Gaza.
Two killed in Israeli
strike on West Bank
An Israeli strike on a built-up refugee camp in the occupied West Bank has killed two people, the Palestinian Health Ministry said Tuesday, as a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip entered a third day.
The Israeli military said in a statement that "forces have initiated a counterterrorism operation" in the area. The identity of those killed in the Jenin refugee camp, where militants are active, was not immediately clear.
Trump cancels sanctions on
Israeli settlers in W Bank
US President Donald Trump on Monday rescinded sanctions imposed by the former Biden administration on far-right Israeli settler groups and individuals accused of being involved in violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, the new White House website said.
The website said Trump rescinded Executive Order 14115 issued on Feb 1, 2024, which authorized the imposition of certain sanctions "on Persons Undermining Peace, Security, and Stability in the West Bank."
Trump's decision is a reversal of a major policy action by former President Joe Biden's administration which had slapped sanctions on numerous Israeli settler individuals and entities, freezing their U.S. assets and generally barring Americans from dealing with them.
Trump 'not confident'
Gaza deal will hold
US President Donald Trump said Monday he was not confident a ceasefire deal in Gaza would hold, despite trumpeting his diplomacy to secure it ahead of his inauguration.
Asked by a reporter as he returned to the White House whether the two sides would maintain the truce and move on in the agreement, Trump said, "I'm not confident."
"That's not our war; it's their war. But I'm not confident," Trump said.
