Violence returned to Gaza after Israel resumed air and ground attacks on military targets inside Gaza.
Yesterday Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire to allow aid from international donors to flow into key areas of Gaza and to allow residents to stock up on food and other provisions.
Yahoo reports: Hundreds of embattled Palestinians ventured outside to shop for food on Wednesday during the three-hour Gaza truce, a first step towards an Egyptian-proposed ceasefire under discussion by Israel and Hamas.
‘Food and milk-what else can we hope for in three hours’ said Ahmed Abu Kamel, a father of six who lives near the city of Gaza. We want it all to end’.
Israel announced that it will stop attacks on Gaza targets for three hours everyday (between one to four in the afternoon) to allow aid workers to continue bringing in food, medicine and other forms of aid to the people of Gaza.
Israel did not say how long the truce will hold but it viewed the on-going talks with Cairo over wider issues related to the ceasefire as a positive development. The talks are being promoted by Presidents Mubarak of Egypt and Nicolas Sarcozy of France
Israel wants a ceasefire that provides among others for the destruction of Hamas-built tunnels to Egypt that are being used to bring into Gaza, rockets and weapons that are being used to attack Israel.
‘Aggression must stop, the siege must be lifted and the Zionist forces must pull out, and then we can talk about other issues, including calm and rockets’ said Hamas spokesman Fawsi Barhoum.
In the meantime fighting continues after the three-hour ceasefire that ends today and the same time everyday thereafter.
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