Israel and Hamas both won on Friday after their troops completed 11 days of fighting, but aid officials have warned that damage to Gaza will take years to rebuild.
After working secretly for several days to reach an agreement, the White House said Washington had received confirmation from the relevant parties that they were committed to ending the fighting.
When Palestinians and Israelis began to assess the extent of the damage, one Gazan said their area appeared to have been hit by a tsunami. “How can the world call itself civilized?” Abu Ali asked, standing next to the rubble of the 14-story line.
Palestinian officials set the cost of rebuilding tens of millions of dollars, while economists say the war could prevent Israel's economic recovery from the COVID-19 epidemic.
Five more bodies were recovered from the rubble of Gaza, killing 248 people, including 66 children, and injuring more than 1,900.
Israeli forces say an Israeli soldier and 12 civilians were killed, including two children. Hundreds were treated for injuries after rocket salvoes created panic and sent people as far away as Tel Aviv rushing to shelters.
World Health Organization spokeswoman Margaret Harris said Gaza's health facilities were at risk of being hit by thousands of injuries.
He called for immediate access to the Gaza Strip with health services and staff. "The real challenges are closing," he told a U.N. forum.
Gaza has for years been under siege in Israel that prevents the passage of people and goods, as well as the borders of Egypt.
Both countries have raised concerns about weapons arriving at Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza and leads the rocket violence. Palestinians say the borders are similar to the joint punishment of Gaza's two million people.
Fabrizio Carboni, regional director of the International Committee of the Red Cross, echoed the WHO's call for emergency medical care, adding: "It will take years to rebuild - and even more to rebuild broken lives."
U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday said aid would be sent immediately to Gaza, but directed by the Palestinian Authority - a West Hamas-backed rival in the West Bank - "in a way that does not allow Hamas to recruit its troops".
WORKING LEADERS
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a speech to Israel, saying the operation had damaged Hamas' ability to shoot arrows at Israel.
He said Israel had destroyed a large network of Hamas, its rocket industries, weapons laboratories and warehouses, and killed more than 200 soldiers, including 25 people.
"Hamas can no longer hide. That is a great achievement for Israel," he said.
"We have removed an important part of Hamas and Islamic Jihad's echelon. And anyone who has not been killed knows today that our long arm can reach him anywhere, above or below the ground."
Israel said Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other militant groups detonated around 4,350 rockets in Gaza during the fighting, with about 640 falling on the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces say that 90% of those crossing the border are being held by the Iron Dome.
Iran, which does not accept Israel but supports Hamas and claims to have changed the weapons of the Palestinian army, claimed victory in a "historic victory" for Israel. Iranian Revolutionary Guards warn Israel to expect "deadly beatings".
Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh has waged this war as a war against an economically powerful enemy.
"We will rebuild the destroyed [Israel) work and restore our power," he said, "and we will not leave our responsibilities and duties to the families of the martyrs, the wounded and the displaced."
Haniyeh expressed gratitude to the mediators in Egypt, Qatari and the U.N., and Iran, "who have not given up on providing financial, weapons and technology resistance".
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called on Muslim countries in a statement to "support the Palestinian people, through military means ... or financial support ... or rebuilding Gaza's infrastructure".
Ezzat el-Reshiq, a senior member of Hamas's political office, told Reuters in Doha that the organisation's needs included the protection of the Al-Aqsa Islamist movement, as well as Palestinians threatened with eviction from their homes in East Jerusalem.
RAMADAN CLASHES
Israeli-Hamas hostilities were postponed to May 10 in part by Israeli police raiding Al-Aqsa and clashes with Palestinian people during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Thousands gathered there again for Friday prayers, with many showing support for Gaza.
Israeli police fired stun grenades at protesters, hurling stones and petrol bombs at police, while Palestinian doctors said 20 Palestinians were injured.
The conflict lasted about an hour, with Israeli police returning to the compound gates.
Citizens on both sides of the Gaza Strip were skeptical of opportunities for peace.
"What is peace? What does it mean?" said Samira Abdallah Naseer, a mother of 11 children, sitting near a massacre near a building near Beit Hanoun north of the Gaza Strip.
"We went back to our houses, found shelter, water, electricity, mattresses, nothing," he said.
At a cafe in the port of Ashdod, north of Gaza, student Dan Kiri, 25, said Israel should continue to attack Hamas until it collapses.
"There is still time left for the next operation in Gaza," he said.
The agreement, drafted by Egypt, appeared to be part of a two-pronged agreement, and Cairo sent a security team to Tel Aviv and Palestinian territories to agree on measures to maintain stability.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said "our dialogue with the Egyptian leader was an important part of that dialogue and is an important part of ending the conflict, because of their important relationship with Hamas". On Thursday Biden made his first announcement to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as president.
A major obstacle to securing the deal was Israel's and Hamas concerns about public accountability on their side, and their opponents, if they agreed to end the fire, Egyptian security sources said.
"In our discussions with both parties, we relied on the need for each of them to see the magnitude of the damage done to the citizens, and to charge each group for its criminal and international crimes against the people," said one source.
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