Story highlights Israeli, Palestinian delegations in Cairo with Egyptian officials to act as go-betweens

Israel says its goal of destroying tunnels has been met

"Peace? What peace?" the resident of a shattered Gaza neighborhood asks

With negotiations for a longer-lasting cease-fire set to begin soon, many Gazans returned to their neighborhoods Tuesday while some remained at shelters not trusting the break in the violence.

For now, a 72-hour humanitarian pause is in place, allowing delegations to gather in Cairo, Egypt, to talk about how to make the truce last.

For Gaza's 1.8 million residents it also offered a chance to go to a street market for food and goods, or to check on abandoned homes.

For Israel, where more than 2,300 rockets have landed since early July, there was, for a change, no sirens blaring.

In Gaza City, one man told CNN he was happy the shooting had stopped, but his problems were just beginning.

The man said he couldn't understand what he was seeing -- the home his family invested $100,000 in, now destroyed.

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No insurance company will give him money to rebuild, he told CNN.

There are no winners in this war, he said.

But on Twitter, the Israel Defense Forces declared: "Mission accomplished."

The IDF said it had destroyed 32 tunnels -- many of which ran under the border into Israel -- during the four-week conflict. Israel says Hamas militants used the tunnels to sneak into Israel for terror attacks.

Nearly 1,900 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza during the conflict, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. It's unclear how many were militants. The United Nations estimates that about 70% of the dead were civilians.

But the IDF says it estimates about 900 militants were killed. IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said it was a preliminary figure based on field reports from troops returning from battle.

Israeli officials have said 64 Israeli soldiers and three civilians in Israel died in violence.

'Peace? What peace?'

After the cease-fire began, residents trickled into Shujaya, an area near Gaza City that experienced some of the most destructive violence of the conflict.

They found craters and ruins where homes and shops once stood.

People scaled crumbled concrete and twisted metal to rummage for any belongings left in the rubble.

Nal Mohammed, a Ph.D. student whose family home was demolished, lamented the situation.

"Peace? What peace? We have no home, no water, no power," he said. "There is no peace here."

Residents were stunned as they returned to their neighborhoods for the first time since being displaced by the fighting.

"After the cease-fire agreement took effect, the world will now see the level of destruction which should serve as an evidence of the level of crimes of the enemy," Ismail Haniyeh, a senior leader of Hamas, said in a statement aired on Hamas-run Al-Aqsa television, according to a CNN translation.

The conflict has displaced more than 200,000 people across the densely populated territory.

Residents are coming back to similar sights -- rubble, ruins, buildings pockmarked by shrapnel.

A white-haired man, Hany Mahmoud el Harezen, stood on the roof of his collapsed two-story home.

"I am a wedding photographer, I have nothing to do with this war," he said. "Maybe if we had gotten some concessions, it would be worth it. But we got nothing."

For the first time Tuesday, the number of people packed into U.N. shelters decreased, said U.N. official Chris Gunness in Gaza.

But not everyone left the U.N. facilities.

Others were more pragmatic, thinking it best to wait and see.

"They said there was a truce before and we left," one man told CNN. "But five minutes after we got home, the airstrikes started."

Israel released a map noting numerous sites it targeted in Shujaya, which it said "Hamas used for military purposes." The IDF said the map showed locations of tunnels, hideouts, rocket firings and launchings, and more.

Troop withdrawal

"We have no forces within Gaza," IDF spokesman Lerner told CNN Tuesday.

With its goal of demolishing the tunnels achieved, Israel announced the withdrawal of ground forces for what is supposed to be a three-day cease-fire with Hamas.

Israel is implementing the Egyptian-brokered truce, which took effect Tuesday morning, while maintaining "defensive positions" outside Gaza, the IDF said.

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Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinians in Gaza celebrate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas on Tuesday, August 26. After more than seven weeks of heavy fighting, Israel and Hamas agreed to an open-ended ceasefire that puts off dealing with core long-term issues. Hide Caption 1 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinians inspect the damage to a residential building following several late night Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City on August 26. Hide Caption 2 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Gila, center, mother of 4-year-old Israeli boy Daniel Tragerman, sits next to his grave during his funeral near the Israel-Gaza border on Sunday, August 24. Hide Caption 3 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinians run away from debris after a bomb from an Israeli airstrike hit a house in Gaza on Saturday, August 23. Hide Caption 4 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – An Israeli soldier smokes a cigarette in a large concrete pipe used as shelter at an army deployment point near the Israeli-Gaza border on Wednesday, August 20. Hide Caption 5 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Light trails made by rockets fired from the Gaza Strip stand out against the night sky on Tuesday, August 19. Despite efforts to come to a peaceful agreement, Gaza militants launched rockets into Israel on Tuesday, and Israel responded with its own rockets. Hide Caption 6 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – An injured Palestinian man is helped into the Shifa hospital in Gaza City on August 19. Hide Caption 7 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Police examine the remains of a rocket launched from Gaza that landed near the kibbutz of Yad Mordechay on August 19. Hide Caption 8 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City on August 19. Hide Caption 9 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Islam El Masri begins to sort through the rubble of her destroyed home in Beit Hanoun, Gaza, on Thursday, August 14. Hide Caption 10 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Israelis gather in Tel Aviv during a protest August 14 calling on the government and the army to end Palestinian rocket attacks from Gaza once and for all. Hide Caption 11 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Smoke rises in Gaza City after an airstrike on Saturday, August 9. Hide Caption 12 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Israeli soldiers walk past a Merkava tank as they patrol a field near Israel's border with Gaza on August 9. Hide Caption 13 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – A Palestinian boy salvages family belongings from the rubble of a four-story building after an airstrike in Gaza City on Friday, August 8. Hide Caption 14 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Israelis flee after a rocket fired from Gaza hit the residential neighborhood of Sderot, Israel, on August 8. Hide Caption 15 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – A Palestinian man looks out over destruction in the al-Tufah neighborhood of Gaza City on Wednesday, August 6. Hide Caption 16 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Displaced Palestinians carry their belongings as they leave a United Nations school in Beit Lahiya, Gaza, to return to their homes Tuesday, August 5. Hide Caption 17 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – The body of Avrohom Wallis is carried during his funeral in Jerusalem on Monday, August 4. Wallis was killed in what Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld called a "terror attack," when a man drove an earthmover into a bus in Jerusalem. Hide Caption 18 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Israeli soldiers fire a mortar shell toward Gaza from the Israeli side of the border on August 4. Hide Caption 19 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinians remove rubble from a house hit by an airstrike in the al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City on August 4. Hide Caption 20 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – An Israeli drone circles over Gaza City on Sunday, August 3. Hide Caption 21 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – A Palestinian man sits in a hospital in Rafah, Gaza, on August 3. Hide Caption 22 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – An honor guard caries the coffin of Israeli Lt. Hadar Goldin during his funeral in Kfar-saba, Israel, on August 3. Goldin was thought to have been captured during fighting in Gaza but was later declared killed in action by the Israel Defense Forces. Hide Caption 23 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – A Palestinian boy looks for belongings after an airstrike in Rafah on Saturday, August 2. Hide Caption 24 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Israeli soldiers walk to their tank at a staging area near the border with Gaza on August 2. Hide Caption 25 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – A young Palestinian carries damaged copies of the Quran from the rubble of the Imam Al Shafaey mosque in Gaza City on August 2. Hide Caption 26 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinians displaced from their houses return to check their homes in Gaza City on Friday, August 1. Hide Caption 27 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – An Israeli soldier carries a shell as he prepares a tank along the Israel-Gaza border on Thursday, July 31. Israel called up 16,000 additional reservists, bolstering forces for its fight against Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza. Hide Caption 28 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Smoke rises from a building after an airstrike in Rafah on July 31. Hide Caption 29 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – The parents and a sister of Israeli soldier Guy Algranati mourn during his funeral in Tel Aviv on July 31. Hide Caption 30 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – U.N. workers remove a donkey injured at a U.N.-run school in Gaza on Wednesday, July 30. Hide Caption 31 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinians walk under the collapsed minaret of a destroyed mosque in Gaza City on July 30. Hide Caption 32 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinians gather leaflets that fell from an Israeli plane on July 30. The leaflets warned residents of airstrikes in Gaza City. Hide Caption 33 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Israelis take cover from a Palestinian rocket attack from Gaza during the funeral of Israeli soldier Meidan Maymon Biton, which was held at a cemetery in Netivot, Israel, on Tuesday, July 29. Hide Caption 34 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Smoke and fire rise above Gaza City after an Israeli airstrike on July 29. Hide Caption 35 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – An Israeli soldier prays on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza on July 29 as smoke billows from the only power plant supplying electricity to Gaza. Hide Caption 36 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Near the rubble of their home in Rafah, Palestinian men mourn July 29 for people killed during an airstrike. Hide Caption 37 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – A Palestinian man places a portrait of Hamas leader Ismail Haniya on the rubble of Haniya's Gaza City home July 29 after it was hit by an overnight airstrike. Hide Caption 38 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Flares from Israeli forces light up the night sky of Gaza City on July 29. Hide Caption 39 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Israeli soldiers carry the coffin of 2nd Lt. Roy Peles, an infantry officer who was killed in combat, during his funeral in Tel Aviv on Sunday, July 27. Hide Caption 40 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – During a 12-hour cease-fire in Gaza City's Shijaiyah neighborhood on Saturday, July 26, a Palestinian man sits atop a car filled with belongings that were salvaged from a destroyed home. Hide Caption 41 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Israeli soldiers watch a bomb explode along the border with Gaza before the 12-hour cease-fire on July 26. Hide Caption 42 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – As her brother-in-law Mazen Keferna weeps on the ground, Manal Keferna cries upon discovering her family home destroyed by airstrikes in Beit Hanoun on July 26. Hide Caption 43 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinians dig a body out of the rubble of a destroyed house in Gaza during the cease-fire on July 26. Hide Caption 44 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – An Israeli soldier mourns at the grave of reserve Master Sgt. Yair Ashkenazy during his funeral at the military cemetery in Rehovot, Israel, on Friday, July 25. Ashkenazy was killed during operations in northern Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces reported. Hide Caption 45 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – A Palestinian man cries after bringing a child to the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya on Thursday, July 24. The child was wounded in a strike on a school that was serving as a shelter for families in Gaza. It's unclear who was behind the strike. The Israeli military said it was "reviewing" the incident, telling CNN that a rocket fired from Gaza could have been responsible. Hide Caption 46 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Israeli soldiers carry a wounded soldier to a helicopter near the Israel-Gaza border on July 24. Hide Caption 47 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Israeli soldiers patrol the Israel-Gaza border on July 24. Hide Caption 48 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – A trail of blood is seen in the courtyard of the school that was hit July 24 in the Beit Hanoun district of Gaza. Hide Caption 49 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – An Israeli tank fires toward Gaza from a position near Israel's border on July 24. Hide Caption 50 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – A photograph tweeted by astronaut Alexander Gerst on Wednesday, July 23, shows major cities of Israel and Gaza. Gerst said in his tweet: "My saddest photo yet. From #ISS we can actually see explosions and rockets flying over #Gaza & #Israel." Hide Caption 51 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – A woman in Philadelphia passes by a departure board that shows US Airways Flight 796, scheduled to fly to Tel Aviv, has been canceled on Tuesday, July 22. The Federal Aviation Administration told U.S. airlines they were temporarily prohibited from flying to the Tel Aviv airport after a Hamas rocket exploded nearby. Hide Caption 52 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Smoke and fire from the explosion of an Israeli strike rise over Gaza City on July 22. Hide Caption 53 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – A relative of Israeli soldier Jordan Ben-Simon mourns over his coffin during his funeral in Ashkelon, Israel, on July 22. Hide Caption 54 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinians inspect destroyed buildings and collect usable items after an Israeli air assault on July 22. Hide Caption 55 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Israeli soldiers weep at the grave of Israeli Sgt. Adar Barsano during his funeral Sunday, July 20, in Nahariya, Israel. Hide Caption 56 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinian medics carry a body in Gaza's Shaja'ia district on July 20. Hide Caption 57 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Israeli soldiers give medical care to soldiers who were wounded during an offensive in Gaza on July 20. Hide Caption 58 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – A Palestinian boy injured during an Israeli airstrike is taken to the hospital by his father in Gaza City on July 20. Hide Caption 59 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinians flee their homes as Israeli troops focus their firepower on the Gaza town of Shaja'ia on Sunday, July 20. The shelling and bombing killed at least 60 people and wounded 300, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Hide Caption 60 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Smoke rises after an Israeli missile hit Shaja'ia on July 20. Hide Caption 61 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – A Palestinian child walks on debris from a destroyed house following an overnight Israeli strike in Beit Lahiya on Saturday, July 19. Hide Caption 62 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – An explosion rocks a street in Gaza City on Friday, July 18. Hide Caption 63 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Israeli ground forces move to the Gaza border on July 18. Hide Caption 64 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Israeli soldiers patrol near the Israel-Gaza border on July 18. Hide Caption 65 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – A relative mourns July 18 during the funeral of Rani Abu Tawila, a Palestinian who was killed in an Israeli attack on Gaza City. Hide Caption 66 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – A Palestinian demonstrator, protesting Israel's military operation in Gaza, runs through smoke July 18 during clashes with Israeli soldiers at the entrance of the Ofer prison in the West Bank village of Betunia. Hide Caption 67 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – This image, made from video shot through a night-vision scope, was released by the Israeli military on July 18. It shows troops moving through a wall opening during the early hours of the ground offensive in Gaza. Hide Caption 68 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Children stare as Palestinians flee Khan Yunis, Gaza, to safe areas July 18. Hide Caption 69 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – An Israeli tank fires a shell into Gaza on July 18. Hide Caption 70 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – A Palestinian carries a gas cylinder salvaged from the rubble of an apartment building after it was hit by Israeli fire on July 18. Hide Caption 71 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – An Israeli reservist prays July 18 near the Gaza border by Sderot, Israel. Hide Caption 72 of 73 Photos: Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israel-Gaza crisis – Flare smoke rises into the Gaza City sky on Thursday, July 17. Hide Caption 73 of 73

Map: Middle East region

Officials from the United Nations and United States, who have been pushing for a cease-fire for weeks, hope that the 72-hour pause will allow negotiations to take place for a more lasting peace.

Meetings in Cairo

An Israeli delegation arrived Tuesday evening in Cairo for negotiations, two senior Egyptian government officials told CNN.

The officials, who asked not to be named, said they expected indirect negotiations to begin Wednesday, with the Egyptian officials acting as intermediaries. The two sides are not expected to talk directly to each other.

Egyptian and Palestinian negotiators had arrived over the weekend.

Key to any talks, Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said, is that Hamas must disarm.

Hamas leaders say that they want to negotiate an end to the Israeli blockade of Gaza, or at least a body other than the Israelis controlling the borders.

Haniyeh, the senior Hamas leader, said his televised statement that Hamas members will work with the Palestinian delegation to end the blockade.

Israel: 'The onus is on Hamas'

Israel repeatedly accepted an Egyptian cease-fire proposal during the conflict, which Hamas rejected. Temporary humanitarian cease-fires repeatedly crumbled, with each side blaming the other.

"The onus is on Hamas," Regev told CNN of the 72-hour truce.

"We are entering this with our eyes open," he said. "We have been burnt more than once."

The sentiment was similar from Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan, who told CNN that as long as Israel honors the agreement, so will the Palestinians.

"We hope they can take it and be committed to a cease-fire," he said.

While Egypt has not released details of the truce, Regev suggested it was the same agreement that Israel has accepted all along.

The United States urged both sides to honor the cease-fire agreement.

"The United States has been steadfast in our insistence on an end to rocket and tunnel attacks against Israel and an end to the suffering of the people of Gaza," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "urges the parties to commence, as soon as possible, talks in Cairo on a durable ceasefire and the underlying issues," his office said in a statement.

British minister resigns over Gaza

In the latest example of the ripples the conflict has sent around the globe, a British government minister said she was resigning over her country's policy on Gaza.

"With deep regret I have this morning written to the Prime Minister & tendered my resignation. I can no longer support Govt policy on Gaza," Sayeeda Warsi, senior minister of state at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, wrote on Twitter.

Warsi, a member of the House of Lords and the first Muslim in a British Cabinet, posted a photo of her resignation letter on Twitter.