Calm continues in the Gaza Strip today, Monday, amid international welcome. Washington called for an investigation into the deaths of civilians. It also pledged to protect Israel's security and to strengthen the calm, while government officials in Gaza demanded the reconstruction of the Strip and the lifting of the Israeli siege.

And calm still prevails in the situation after the entry into force of the comprehensive and mutual ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Islamic Jihad movement starting at 23:30 yesterday evening, Sunday, which was reached after Egyptian and Qatari contacts.

Governmental, private and educational institutions and shops have opened their doors since this morning in Gaza, and the Israeli army canceled all emergency instructions and restrictions imposed on residents of the Gaza envelope area.

Hours before the agreement took effect, the Ministry of Health in Gaza said that the toll of the Israeli escalation during three days had risen to 44 martyrs - including 15 children and 4 women - in addition to 360 wounded.

The Palestinians mourned this afternoon the bodies of Yasser Al-Nabhain and three of his sons, who were killed in the bombing of the Al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip yesterday.


International welcome

In international reactions, US President Joe Biden welcomed the armistice agreement, and praised the role of Egypt and Qatar in achieving it.

Biden said he supports an investigation into reports of civilian casualties, calling on all parties to strictly implement the ceasefire and ensure the flow of fuel and humanitarian supplies into Gaza as the fighting stops.

In press statements from Johannesburg, the capital of South Africa, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip and Israel "will provide a welcome period of respite for civilians," stressing that his country will continue in the coming months to work with partners to improve the quality of life for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. .

Blinken reiterated the United States' commitment to Israel's security, and that it will remain fully engaged in the coming days to promote calm.

"Palestinians and Israelis deserve to live in safety and enjoy equal measures of freedom, prosperity and democracy," he added.

During the same press conference, South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pando said, "We should care just as much about what happens to the people of Palestine as what happens to the people of Ukraine."

In Ankara, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during the 13th Turkish Ambassadors Conference, "There is no justification for killing children and infants... We stand by the Palestinian people and the brothers in Gaza."

He added that his country is working to make its relations with Saudi Arabia and the UAE stronger than before, and that it is using its relations with Israel to defend the rights of the Palestinians, as well as Turkey's interests.

Erdogan reiterated that Al-Aqsa Mosque is a red line for his country.

United nations

In an interview with Al-Jazeera, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in the Palestinian Territories said, "What concerns us now is the maintenance of the ceasefire," noting that the United Nations, Egypt and Qatar have made efforts to implement the ceasefire in Gaza.

Hastings added that international law prohibits the use of excessive force in residential areas, and that the position of the United Nations is consistent regarding the protection of civilian lives in times of war, considering that Israel should facilitate the arrival of food and medical supplies to Gaza.

The coordinator visited a number of places destroyed by the occupation army in Gaza City. The coordinator, who arrived in the Strip through the Beit Hanoun crossing in the northern Gaza Strip, held meetings with civil society and human rights organizations to see the situation in the field.

Gaza demands

In Gaza City, Palestinian government officials held a press conference today, Monday, to demand the international and Arab community to reconstruct the Strip and work to lift the continuous Israeli siege for more than 15 years.

During the conference, the head of the Government Information Office, Salama Maarouf, called on the international community to intervene in order not to continue the collective punishment practiced by Israel against the residents of the Gaza Strip.

The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, Naji Sarhan, said that the recent aggression caused the total demolition of 18 housing units, and 71 housing units were severely damaged and became uninhabitable, while partial damage affected about 1,675 housing units.

He added that his ministry did not receive funding for the reconstruction of about 2,200 housing units that were completely demolished during the Israeli attacks that preceded the aggression of May last year, explaining that the cost of their reconstruction amounts to about $100 million.

He called on the Islamic Development Bank to send a special envoy to Gaza to find out the needs of the sector in the field of relief, reconstruction and development, and also called on the United Nations to intervene to stop the attacks and lift the siege.

For his part, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Social Development, Ghazi Hamad, said that the recent aggression came in a difficult humanitarian situation, explaining that his ministry had begun providing aid to families whose homes were damaged.

The Israeli government announced the opening of the crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip for humanitarian cases, starting at nine o'clock this morning local time, and the power station had stopped working since last Saturday due to running out of fuel.

The fuel trucks needed to operate the power plant in the Gaza Strip began to enter through the Kerem Shalom commercial crossing, after the Israeli occupation authorities partially opened the crossing today. Thirty trucks loaded with fuel are scheduled to enter today to operate the station.