GAZA CITY // Gaza residents crowded banks, vegetable markets and shops on Thursday, taking advantage of a brief ceasefire that offered the first respite from 10 days of fighting between Hamas and Israel.
Gaza City, a virtual ghost town since the fighting began on July 8, returned to apparent normality within minutes of the start of the truce.
Streets were jammed, motorists honked horns and Hamas police directed traffic at busy intersections.
Crowds of hundreds formed outside banks, with people jostling and shouting to get to ATM machines.
“I’ve been borrowing money from people to get by, and now I’m going to be able to pay them back,” said Abdul Qassam Ataneh, waiting outside a branch of the Bank of Palestine.
“The truce is a chance for people to get out of their homes and get money and supplies.
“Ramadan comes with a lot of expenses,” he said.
Abdallah Jaber, 42, seized the opportunity to visit his 87-year-old father, Hosni, in a care facility for the elderly and disabled close to the Israeli border, in an area that has been targeted repeatedly by the Israeli army as a launching area for rockets.
Several tank shells hit the upper floors of the five-story Wafa rehabilitation centre last week, punching large holes into the wall facing the border.
Israel has demanded that the building be evacuated, but director Basman Ashi said such a trip was too risky for his 17 patients, many of them unable to walk.
Mr Jaber said he could not reach the centre during 10 days of fighting and was worried about his father, who is on a respirator and suffers from dementia.
“We would call every hour to get an update on his condition,” he said.
In an outdoor market, shoppers filled plastic bags with fruit, vegetables and freshly slaughtered chickens.
The rush to restock signalled that Gaza residents didn’t expect a quick end to the fighting.
“The situation is likely to get worse because there is no clear way out of it,” said Moussa Amran, 43, a money changer in central Gaza City.
But two and a half hours into the truce, three mortar rounds were fired from Gaza into the southern Israeli region of Eshkol, the Israeli military said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility from militants in Gaza.
Before the mortar attack, Mohamed Nasr said he was happy with the brief truce, but wished the hours were longer.
“It’s not enough. People need to go out and get supplies and to get their belongings. It should have been from 7am until dusk,” he said.
“We’ve been stuck in our houses during this war, because of the violence. It’s like living under curfew.”
* Associated Press with additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
