Egyptian mediators hold talks to firm up Israel-Hamas truce as Palestinians assess damage

Masked Hamas fighters brandishing assault rifles paraded in Gaza City, and the group's top leader made his first public appearance on Saturday in a defiant show of force after the militants' 11-day conflict with Israel.

Saturday marked the first full day of a ceasefire, and Egyptian mediators held talks to firm up the truce, which ended the fourth Israel-Hamas war in just over a decade.

In the fighting that broke out May 10, Israel unleashed hundreds of airstrikes against targets in Gaza, while Hamas and other militants fired more than 4,000 rockets toward Israel, most of which were intercepted by its Iron Dome air defence system or landed in Gaza. More than 250 people were killed, the vast majority of them Palestinians.

In Gaza City, residents began assessing damage.

Gaza City's busiest commercial area, Omar al-Mukhtar Street, was covered in debris, smashed cars and twisted metal after a 13-floor building in its centre was flattened in an Israeli airstrike. Merchandise was covered in soot and strewn inside smashed stores and on the pavement. Municipal workers removed broken glass and twisted metal from streets and sidewalks.

"We really didn't expect this amount of damage," said Ashour Subeih, who sells baby clothes. "We thought the strike was a bit farther from us. But as you can see, not an area of the shop is intact." Having been in business for one year, Subeih estimated his losses were double what he has earned so far.

Drone video and photos showed some city blocks reduced to rubble, in between homes and businesses left standing.

Both Israel and Hamas have claimed victory.

On Saturday, dozens of Hamas fighters wearing military camouflage paraded past the mourning tent for Bassem Issa, a senior commander killed in the fighting. The top Hamas leader in Gaza, Yehiyeh Sinwar, paid his respects in his first public appearance since the war began.

Israel bombed the house of Sinwar, along with that of other senior Hamas figures, as part of its attack on what it said was the group's military infrastructure. Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz has said top Hamas figures remained targets.

Still, there's widespread expectation that the ceasefire would stick for now, even if another round of fighting at some point seems inevitable. Underlying issues remain unresolved, including an Israeli-Egyptian border blockade, now in its 14th year, that is choking Gaza's more than two million residents and a refusal by the Islamic militant group Hamas to disarm.

Palestinian Authority further sidelined

The fighting began when Hamas militants in Gaza fired long-range rockets toward Jerusalem. The barrage came after days of clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Heavy-handed police tactics at the compound and the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinian families by Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem had inflamed tensions.

The war has further sidelined Hamas's main political rival, the internationally backed Palestinian Authority, which oversees autonomous enclaves in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. It appeared that Hamas increasingly positioned itself as a defender of Jerusalem in Palestinian public opinion.

On Friday, hours after the ceasefire took effect, thousands of Palestinians in the Al-Aqsa compound chanted against Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his self-rule government. "Dogs of the Palestinian Authority, out, out," they shouted, and "The people want the president to leave."

It was an unprecedented display of anger against Abbas. The conflict also brought to the surface deep frustration among Palestinians — whether in the occupied West Bank, Gaza or within Israel — over the status quo, with the Israeli-Palestinian peace process all but abandoned for years.

Despite his weakened status, Abbas will be the point of contact for any renewed U.S. diplomacy, since Israel and most countries in the West — including the European Union, Canada and the United States — consider Hamas a terrorist organization.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is to meet with Abbas and Israeli leaders when he visits in the coming week. Abbas is expected to raise demands that any Gaza reconstruction plans go through the Palestinian Authority to avoid strengthening Hamas.

Abbas met Saturday with Egyptian mediators to discuss the rebuilding of Gaza and internal Palestinian relations, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

An Egyptian diplomat said Saturday that two teams of mediators are in Israel and the Palestinian territories to continue talks on firming up a ceasefire deal and long-term calm.

The diplomat said discussions include implementing agreed-on measures in Gaza and Jerusalem, including ways to prevent practices that led to the latest fighting. The official did not elaborate. He was apparently referring to violence at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the planned eviction of Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in East Jerusalem.

The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss behind-the-scenes deliberations.

Infrastructure destroyed

Separately, a 130-truck convoy with humanitarian aid and medical supplies reached the Gaza border from Egypt on Saturday, according to a senior Egyptian official at the border crossing. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

Across Gaza, an assessment of the damage to the territory's already decrepit infrastructure began.

The Ministry of Public Works and Housing said that 769 housing and commercial units were rendered uninhabitable, at least 1,042 units in 258 buildings were destroyed and just over 14,500 units suffered minor damage.

The United Nations said about 800,000 people in Gaza do not have regular access to clean piped water, as nearly 50 per cent of the water network was damaged by airstrikes.

Israel has said it was targeting Hamas's military infrastructure, including a vast tunnel system running under roads and homes, as well as command centres, rocket launchers and the homes of commanders. The Israeli military has said it was trying to minimize harm to civilians and accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields.

The Gaza Health Ministry says at least 248 Palestinians were killed, including 66 children and 39 women, with 1,910 people wounded. It does not differentiate between fighters and civilians. Twelve people were killed in Israel, all but one of them civilians, including a five-year-old boy and 16-year-old girl.

Israel has accused Hamas and the smaller militant group Islamic Jihad of hiding the actual number of fighters killed in the war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that more than 200 militants were killed, including 25 senior commanders.

Islamic Jihad on Saturday gave a first account of deaths within its ranks, saying that 19 of its commanders and fighters were killed, including the head of the rocket unit in northern Gaza.