Palestinians pick up pieces in ravaged Gaza after Israel ceasefire

Dunya News

Palestinians pick up pieces in ravaged Gaza after Israel ceasefire

GAZA CITY (AFP) - Gazans tried to piece back their lives Saturday after a devastating 11-day conflict with Israel that killed more than 200 people and made thousands homeless in the impoverished Palestinian enclave.

Authorities started distributing tents, mattresses and covers to those in need in the Gaza Strip, an AFP reporter said, a day after a ceasefire ended deadly Israeli air strikes on the besieged coastal enclave and rocket fire out of it towards Israel.

Attention turned to rebuilding the territory controlled by the Islamic group Hamas, with the United Nations saying Saturday that at least 6,000 people had been made homeless.

Rescue workers searched for bodies or survivors in mounds of rubble, as residents tried to asses what was left of their previous lives.

The latest round of bombardment killed 248 people in Gaza, including 66 children, and wounded more than 1,900 since May 10, the Hamas-run health ministry says.

The United Nations says more than half of those killed, the overwhelming majority in Israeli air strikes, were civilians.