Several thousand Palestinians attended a Hamas victory rally in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday (August 27) as an open-ended ceasefire held after 7 weeks of fighting.
Men, women and children gathered in Gaza City waving Hamas and Islamic Jihad flags while music blared from large speakers.
Hamas leader in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh addressing the crowd said that the Islamist group had the "final word" in the war.
"During the battle, 51 days, al Qassam and the resistance had the final word: they began the war by striking Haifa and ended it by striking Haifa," referring to Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas.
Palestinian health officials say 2,139 people, most of them civilians, including more than 490 children, have been killed in the enclave since July 8, when Israel launched an offensive with the declared aim of ending rocket salvoes.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights said 540,000 people had been displaced in the Gaza Strip. Israel has said Hamas bears responsibility for civilian casualties because it operates among non-combatants and uses schools and mosques to store weapons and as launch sites for rockets.
Israel's death toll stood at 64 soldiers and six civilians.
The ceasefire agreement called for an indefinite halt to hostilities, the immediate opening of Gaza's blockaded crossings with Israel and Egypt, and a widening of the territory's fishing zone in the Mediterranean.
Under a second stage of the truce that would begin a month later, Israel and the Palestinians would discuss the construction of a Gaza sea port and Israel's release of Hamas prisoners in the occupied West Bank, possibly in a trade for the remains of two Israeli soldiers believed held by Hamas, the officials said.
Both Israel and Egypt view Hamas as a security threat and are seeking guarantees that weapons will not enter Gaza, a narrow, densely populated territory of 1.8 million people.
REUTERS
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