A semblance of normal life returned to Gaza on Tuesday as a 72-hour truce entered its second day and negotiators sat down in Cairo to seek a permanent end to the conflict.
The enclave was quiet following days of Egyptian-brokered mediation to stem violence which has killed 1,940 Palestinians and 67 on the Israeli side since July 8.
Egyptian intelligence mediators in Cairo threw themselves back into shuttle diplomacy that unravelled after rocket attacks breached the previous 72-hour truce on Friday.
With no reports of violations by either side since midnight on Sunday, shops and businesses started to reopen and people ventured onto the streets of the war-torn coastal region, which is home to 1.8 million Palestinians.
Outside a United Nations-run school, cars and donkey carts waited to take some refugees back to homes they had fled.
“We want to go back to see what happened to our house,” said Hikmat Atta, who piled his family into a small cart to visit their home in the northern town of Beit Lahiya.
