Sharjah24 – Reuters: After touring rubble-strewn areas of Gaza hit by air strikes during fighting between Israel and Hamas, the top U.N. aid official in the region appealed to both sides on Saturday to observe a ceasefire as aid teams assess the damage.
The ceasefire, which began early on Friday, ended 11 days of Israeli aerial attacks and barrages of rockets fired at Israel by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.
"Last night was calm, and we hope obviously that it is going to hold and everybody just needs to stand down and not to engage in any provocative moves," Lynn Hastings, U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for the Palestinian territories, said in Gaza City.
Hastings stopped to talk to survivors on heavily damaged Wehda Street (Unity Street), where Palestinian health officials said 42 people had been killed, including 22 members of one family, during the Israeli air strikes.
Standing by the rubble of residential buildings, Hastings said she had seen more than just damaged infrastructure.
She cited the "Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism" agreed among Israel, the United Nations and the Palestinian Authority under President Mahmoud Abbas, a Hamas rival who governs the occupied West Bank but has negligible influence within Gaza.
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