GAZA/JERUSALEM, Aug. 6 -- The Egyptian-brokered 72-hour ceasefire continued for a second day on Wednesday, bringing some quiet to both Gazans and Israelis.

In the Shejaiya community, the oldest community on the east Gaza Strip bordering Israel, Emad and his family were scavenging through the ruins.

Moving debris away bare-handed and climbing over fallen concrete walls, the family, who moved to a relative's home in the city center for shelter during the furious conflicts, found that their four-story building had been destroyed in airstrikes. The big tree that once stood in the yard laid on the ground.

"I have no money to repair the building. I don't know what I should do," Emad said sadly.

No building was seen undamaged from the rooftop of his shattered house.

"Armed conflicts should be carried out between militaries, not civilians, as Israelis did, who use their advanced heavy arms to fight unarmed people here," Abu Moussa, the community leader, told Xinhua.

He said he never heard of gunmen or facilities being hidden in the community. When residents in the neighborhood received phone calls or messages telling them to move out, many didn't take the warning seriously and nobody believed the Israeli army could bombard all the houses, he recalled. "That's why casualties and losses of life are so great."

In Israel, the tensions seemed eased following the truce. The 232 road, which links Gaza and Israel and was blocked by the Israeli army just days ago, reopened, and the camps filled with tanks and armored vehicles before was nowhere to be found.

It seemed that Israel had already withdrawn most troops, though still kept some camps along the border.

At one of these camps, an Israeli soldier was dozing on a tent bed next to an armored vehicle, laying his M16 rifle on the ground.

"My unit did not enter Gaza, but my friends, not (just) one, died fighting in Gaza," he said. "No one is more eager than us to end the conflicts."

He acknowledged the heavy losses on both sides. "The death of any Israeli soldier is a disaster to his family, so it is for Gazans," he said. "No one wants to see more than 1,000 Gazans killed in the war."

Walking forward in the camp, several soldiers were having breakfast around a table. When they saw us, they joked with us and said, "Hello."

"We have nothing to do these days except waiting for food delivered from outside," they said, showing us an ammunition box in which a lot of food was stored.

Despite a relaxed atmosphere, they told Xinhua, "A mortar shell killed a soldier here days ago."

At another camp, caterpillar trucks could be seen transporting ammunitions out of the camp.

When asked whether they will retreat, a 20-year-old soldier could not say for certain. "We are just putting the shells on trucks. We are still waiting for an order."