![A Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant holds an RPG during a rally celebrating what the militants say was a victory over Israel following a ceasefire in Gaza City August 29, 2014. An open-ended ceasefire, mediated by Egypt, took effect on Tuesday evening. It called for an indefinite halt to hostilities, the immediate opening of Gaza's blockaded crossings with Israel and Egypt, and a widening of the territory's fishing zone in the Mediterranean. Israel launched an offensive on July 8, with the declared aim of](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/09/RTR4497P.jpg/RTR4497P.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=INjDkS6X)
Asmaa al-Ghoul is a columnist for Al-Monitor's Palestine Pulse and a journalist from the Rafah refugee camp based in Gaza.
![A Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant holds an RPG during a rally celebrating what the militants say was a victory over Israel following a ceasefire in Gaza City August 29, 2014. An open-ended ceasefire, mediated by Egypt, took effect on Tuesday evening. It called for an indefinite halt to hostilities, the immediate opening of Gaza's blockaded crossings with Israel and Egypt, and a widening of the territory's fishing zone in the Mediterranean. Israel launched an offensive on July 8, with the declared aim of](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/09/RTR4497P.jpg/RTR4497P.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=INjDkS6X)
![Palestinian shoppers browse in a supermarket at a newly opened shopping mall in Gaza City July 20, 2010. The mall, the first of its kind in Gaza, opened to the public last week and contains about 15 shops, including a supermarket and clothing stores. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: SOCIETY BUSINESS POLITICS) - RTR2GK60](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/09/RTR2GK60.jpg/RTR2GK60.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=BiqVUJB_)
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Asmaa al-Ghoul
![Hamas political leader Moussa Abu Marzouk (R) shakes hands with a Hamas militant as he visits the mourning tent of senior Hamas commander Mohammed Abu Shammala (seen in posters), who was killed by an Israeli air strike during the seven-week Israeli offensive, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip August 28, 2014. Abu Marzouk, who is currently based in Egypt, arrived in Gaza on Thursday. An open-ended ceasefire in the Gaza war held on Wednesday as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced strong criticis](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/09/RTR444QN.jpg/RTR444QN.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=8XXopV88)
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Asmaa al-Ghoul
![IMG_4828.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/09/IMG_4828.jpg/IMG_4828.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=UjCT6S5-)
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Asmaa al-Ghoul
![A Palestinian woman carries belongings as she walks over the rubble of buildings destroyed by what police said were Israeli air strikes and shelling in Khuzaa, east of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip August 3, 2014. An Israeli air strike killed at least 10 people and wounded about 30 others on Sunday in a U.N.-run school in the southern Gaza Strip, a Palestinian official said, as dozens died in Israeli shelling of the enclave and Hamas fired rockets at Israel. The Israeli military said it was lookin](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/09/RTR41297.jpg/RTR41297.jpg?h=c2c5b897&itok=mSi7-XsG)
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Asmaa al-Ghoul
![IMG_5446.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/09/IMG_5446.jpg/IMG_5446.jpg?h=c2c5b897&itok=tYKPRQiS)
![Asmaa al-Ghoul](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2016/asmaaalghoul.jpg/asmaaalghoul.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=zoLMHrdv)
Asmaa al-Ghoul
![Palestinians gather around the remains of a commercial center, which witnesses said was hit by an Israeli air strike on Saturday, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip August 24, 2014. Egypt called on Israel and the Palestinians on Saturday to halt hostilities and resume peace talks, but both sides kept up attacks, including an Israeli air strike which destroyed a residential tower block in the centre of Gaza City. Hamas militants also fired rockets at Israel, hitting the southern city of Beersheba, where two](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/08/RTR43HZ2.jpg/RTR43HZ2.jpg?h=c2c5b897&itok=0Y7V8GDD)
![Asmaa al-Ghoul](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2016/asmaaalghoul.jpg/asmaaalghoul.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=zoLMHrdv)
Asmaa al-Ghoul
![IMG_1154 resized.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/08/IMG_1154%20resized.jpg/IMG_1154%20resized.jpg?h=c2c5b897&itok=8NarTxBS)
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Asmaa al-Ghoul
![Palestinians flee their houses at the scene of what witnesses said was an Israeli air strike, in Gaza City August 19, 2014. A two-year-old Gaza girl and a woman were killed in an Israeli air strike on Tuesday, making them the first Palestinian deaths in the conflict since the breakdown of a truce earlier in the day, Palestinian health officials said. Israel said it ordered retaliatory raids when militants violated a truce by firing rockets at Israel. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UN](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/08/RTR4309S.jpg/RTR4309S.jpg?h=c2c5b897&itok=OCTR2u_m)
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Asmaa al-Ghoul
![GazaKafarnaHouses.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/08/GazaKafarnaHouses.jpg/GazaKafarnaHouses.jpg?h=c2c5b897&itok=Qha-AHro)
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Asmaa al-Ghoul
![Rescue workers search for victims as Palestinians gather around the wreckage of a house, which witnesses said was destroyed in an Israeli air strike that killed at least nine members from the al-Ghol family, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip August 3, 2014. Renewed Israeli shelling killed at least 30 people in Gaza on Sunday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to keep up pressure on Hamas even after the army completes its core mission of destroying a tunnel network that extends into Israel. Shel](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/08/RTR411S1.jpg/RTR411S1.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=7woGW7Ie)
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Asmaa al-Ghoul
![A Palestinian girl reacts at the scene of an explosion that medics said killed eight children and two adults, and wounded 40 others at a public garden in Gaza City July 28, 2014. Locals blamed the blast on an Israeli air strike, but Israel denied responsibility, saying it was a misfire by a rocket launched by Hamas militants. REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTR40F6P](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/07/RTR40F6P.jpg/RTR40F6P.jpg?h=c2c5b897&itok=IsyD50y9)
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Asmaa al-Ghoul