Gaza residents try to rebuild lives

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Source: CCTV.com | 01-20-2009 10:32

People in Gaza are trying to pick up the pieces of their lives. The 3-week Israeli offensive killed more than 12-hundred Palestinians and wounded more than 53-hundred.

Palestinians returning to their homes stand by a destroyed  building in Beit Lahia on the northern Gaza Strip.  (AFP/Mahmud Hams)

Some degree of normality has returned to Gaza City. Shops are open for business, residents queue to withdraw money from cash machines, and some humanitarian supplies have arrived.

Gaza city resident, said, "After 22 days of siege and after the lack of electricity and water, the killing, the death and the destruction, today is the first day that we have normal life that has quietness, certainty."

Aid officials are seizing the opportunity of the week-long truce to increase the flow of desperately needed supplies to local residents. 80 percent of people in Gaza rely on UN food aid to survive.

Saudi Arabia says it will donate 1 billion US dollars to help rebuild the Gaza Strip.

Britain has announced it will triple its aid to the region. Mike Foster, UK minister for International development, said, "We've been in Israel to talk about the humanitarian aid that we are giving to Gaza, the announcement yesterday of 20 million pounds, and I am here today to talk about access to Gaza so we can get the humanitarian aid into where it's needed."

Israel has not confirm the timetable of its withdrawal from Gaza, but says that if Gaza remains quiet, the departure will be "almost immediate."

Editor:Zhang Yun