Life returned to normal in the coastal Gaza Strip, home to more than two million people, this morning (Sunday), thanks to an agreement brokered by Egypt that ended a bloody wave of tension between the Islamic Jihad movement and Israel.

With the rising of the morning sun, the movement of public and private vehicles resumed, while banks, government and private institutions, and shops opened their doors in preparation to receive their customers after 5 days of complete closure.

Muhammad Saada, owner of clothes in the center of Gaza City, expressed his happiness at the return of life in Gaza to normal, after days of military confrontation between the Palestinian armed factions and Israel over a period of 5 days.

Saada told Xinhua that the residents of the Gaza Strip experienced "difficult and bitter days during the confrontation, the markets were closed, and the streets were empty of pedestrians," expressing his hope to live in peace and quiet away from any confrontation.

Simultaneously, thousands of fishermen in the Strip, who work on more than 700 boats, returned to practice their work inside the sea again in an effort to earn a living, provided that the educational process resumes in universities, schools and kindergartens tomorrow.

The Israeli authorities reopened the Kerem Shalom/Kerem Shalom commercial crossings, the only commercial crossing for goods and fuel in the south of the Strip, and Beit Hanoun/Erez, designated for individuals, patients and workers in the north, after they were closed with the onset of the current wave of tension.

A statement from the Presidential Committee for the Coordination of Goods in the Palestinian Authority said that the Israeli authorities began to enter fuel for the only power plant in Gaza through the crossing as scheduled, and trucks loaded with fodder, grain and humanitarian aid.

Officials in the Gaza Electricity Company considered that the entry of fuel to the power plant will have a positive impact on the work of the station, which was to stop tomorrow due to a lack of fuel due to the closure of the Kerem Shalom crossing.

The sector needs 550 megawatts per day, and all that is available does not exceed 150 megawatts produced by the only power plant in the sector or through transmission lines from the Israeli side.

In addition, the civil defense teams and the electricity and water crews were busy repairing faults in the networks as a result of the Israeli air strikes, while the Ministry of Interior called on citizens not to approach the destroyed buildings for fear of the presence of unexploded Israeli shells.

On the other hand, the owners of the destroyed houses were sad and angry, who were preoccupied with checking their properties and searching for any belongings that were not affected by the Israeli attacks that carry the beautiful memories they lived through.

And on the ruins of a 4-storey house housing 8 families comprising about 40 individuals, including 7 people with special needs, in the northern Gaza Strip, Najah Nabhan was standing screaming about the guilt they committed for destroying her house.

Najah Nabhan told Xinhua that the families were forced to leave the house quickly after receiving a call from the Israeli intelligence that it had been bombed, noting that the people who were there left and their memories and necessities remained buried under the rubble.

Najah, while she was crying, called for providing housing for family members until a suitable solution is found and the house is rebuilt again, in addition to providing treatment for people with special needs, which was buried under the rubble of the house.

Sometimes the Israeli intelligence informs the residents of the house a short time ago, quickly evacuating it within minutes, because it will be bombed by Israeli warplanes, and at other times it is targeted without prior warning in the event that wanted persons are present in it, which leads to deaths and injuries.

There was no official Israeli comment on the bombing of apartments and residential homes, except for what was issued by the Israeli army spokesman, Avichai Adraei, in separate statements indicating that warplanes and drones attacked military sites and headquarters of the Islamic Jihad Army.

Islamic Jihad announced last night that an agreement had been reached between the movement and Israel, mediated by Egypt, on a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip within the framework of a new formula that includes stopping the killing of civilians and the bombing of their homes.

The agreement entered into force at 10:00 pm local time.

A prominent leader in the movement, Khaled al-Batsh, said in a statement that the commitment of his movement and the factions to the truce "depends on the extent of the occupation's commitment to it and the extent of its respect for the pledges it made to the mediators during the efforts to stop the aggression."

The Hebrew public radio quoted "a senior political source as saying that the implementation of the ceasefire will be tested in practice, warning that Israel will respond to any violation of the ceasefire agreement."

In a press statement distributed to journalists, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas praised the great efforts made by Egypt to reach a truce agreement and stop "the aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip."

Abbas said that the active Egyptian role in reaching the truce agreement and stopping "the aggression on the Gaza Strip reflects the strength and specificity of the Egyptian-Palestinian relations and President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi's keenness and personal interest in the Palestinian cause and the rights of our people."

In turn, the Palestinian Prime Minister, Muhammad Shtayyeh, considered that the Israeli practices "will not discourage our people from continuing their legitimate struggle in order to obtain their legitimate rights, foremost of which is their right to self-determination, obtaining their freedom, establishing their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital, and guaranteeing the right of return for refugees."

Shtayyeh instructed, according to a statement issued by him, a copy of which Xinhua received, to the Ministry of Health and all relevant ministries, to provide medical supplies and immediate relief aid to the residents of the Strip.

In a statement, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) expressed its thanks to Egypt for its efforts to reach and sponsor a cease-fire agreement, and to Qatar and the United Nations for their efforts to help reach this agreement.

In the context, the United Nations envoy for the peace process in the Middle East, Tor Winsland, welcomed the announcement of the cease-fire in Gaza and Israel, expressing his deep sorrow over the loss of life and injuries, including children and women.

In a statement he issued, he commended Egypt for its efforts to help restore calm, calling on all parties to respect the ceasefire and immediately restore access to humanitarian aid and all social and economic measures to support livelihoods in Gaza.

The latest round of tension began after Israel targeted 3 leaders of the al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement, inside their homes and apartments in the Strip at dawn last Tuesday, killing them and a number of their families in an operation the Israeli army called "The Defensive Arrow."

After about 35 hours of silence, the joint operations room of the armed Palestinian factions, to which the Islamic Jihad and Hamas groups belong, responded by launching a barrage of rockets at Israel in an operation called "Revenge of the Free."

Later, the Israeli army responded by targeting new leaders, Islamic Jihad military sites, houses, apartments, and agricultural lands in various areas of the Strip, while the armed factions continued to fire rockets at southern and central Israel.

As a result, 33 Palestinians were killed, including 5 children, 4 women, two elderly people, and 6 leaders of the Al-Quds Brigades, in exchange for the killing of two people in a missile strike, one of them Israeli and another Palestinian from Gaza working in Israel, according to Palestinian and Israeli statistics.

The Israeli army stated in a statement that 1,469 rockets were fired from Gaza during the round of fighting, 1,139 of which crossed the separation fence, while the "Iron Dome" system intercepted 439 rockets, while 291 exploded inside the Strip and 39 fell into the sea, pointing to the bombing of 422 targets in Gaza by Islamic Jihad.

This is the worst wave of tension in the Gaza Strip since August last year, when about 49 Palestinians, including 19 children, were killed in Israeli raids that lasted for three days.

Israel waged 4 wars against the Hamas-controlled Strip from 2008 to 2021, in addition to a large number of rounds of tension, which left thousands of Palestinian dead and massive destruction of homes and infrastructure.