Hamas rulers in Gaza Strip, triumphant at having survived the recent Israeli offensive, on Tuesday held victory rallies amid the ruins.
According to the AP, thousands of Hamas supporters thronged a square outside the remains of the parliament building in Gaza City, which was heavily damaged in an Israeli airstrike at the outset of the war. Two men hoisted a sign in carefully scripted Hebrew reading, "The resistance will be victorious, Israel has been defeated."
Hamas claims its triumph because it managed to withstand the intense Israeli assault and fired hundreds of rockets into the Jewish state throughout the fighting. Thousands of Hamas supporters turned out to celebrate in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, raising their forefingers in the air as a sign of loyalty to Hamas, and waving the movement's iconic green flag.
Some 800 people showed up for a pro-Hamas demonstration in the northern Gazan town of Beit Lahiya, the site of heavy fighting.
Meanwhilem Palestinians and human rights workers reported that Israeli troops on Tuesday have killed two Gaza farmers — one a 20-year-old man in northern Gaza — in separate incidents since the truce took hold on Sunday. The Israeli military said in one case that troops returned fire, and had no information on the other.
