Greg Dyett reports.
With an end to the rocket fire into southern Israel - at least for now - residents such as Sharon Solomon can now return to their homes.
"To come back, after all the situation, it's very difficult because all of the alarms, and the kids are still scared from the alarms, but we felt like we don't have any other choice. We have to go back to reality, and we have to start adjusting back to our old life. And let's hope that everything is going to be fine."
Also expressing hope is the United States Secretary of State, John Kerry.
Senator Kerry has told the BBC it's now incumbent on both Israel and Hamas to move beyond their short-term goals to a broader approach to resolving their differences.
"To finally come together when you have a bigger, broader approach to the solution of the underlying issues of two states of people who will be able to have rights protected because they will be respected in the context of those two states which have security for Israel, guarantees for a better life and for greater freedoms for the Palestinians, that's the formula."
Meanwhile the United Nations' children's agency, UNICEF, says more than 400 Palestinian children have been killed since the beginning of Israel's military operation in Gaza.
UNICEF's Christopher Tidey says the destruction of education facilities poses a significant challenge to Gaza's ongoing recovery.
"The damage to schools in Gaza really been unprecedented. I think it's over 140 schools so far in Gaza have been damaged or completely destroyed in less than a month, and how do those schools get rebuilt, do they get rebuilt? Look at the cost in terms of the interruption in a child's education that will result in."
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