LIVE – Ceasefire in Gaza: thousands of Palestinians exult with joy after the announcement of a truce between Hamas and Israel

If it silences the guns, the ceasefire leaves in suspense the political future of the Palestinian territory where Hamas, now very weakened, seized power in 2007, ousting the Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas.

Already undermined before the war by an Israeli blockade imposed since 2007, poverty and unemployment, the Gaza Strip emerged from the war plunged into chaos. The United Nations has estimated that the reconstruction of the territory, more than half of which has been destroyed, would take up to 15 years and cost more than 50 billion euros.

Infrastructure, particularly the water distribution network, was heavily damaged. The ceasefire puts an end to the nightmare of its 2.4 million inhabitants, most of whom have fled their homes to try to escape the fighting and bombings.