Gaza falls silent as three-day ceasefire takes hold Gaza fell silent on Tuesday after a month of intense combat, as a 72-hour truce accepted by Israel and Hamas came into effect and the last Israeli troops left the battered enclave. people were slowly returning to homes they had fled after being ordered out by the army, with dozens of people in the northern town of Beit Hanun heading home in cars or on donkey-drawn carts. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES