A senior army intelligence official has admitted that Israel underestimated the tenacity of Gaza militants and did not expect a 50-day conflict to last so long, but he insisted they were soundly beaten.

More than 2 million Israeli children went back to school on Monday after a summer spent by many in bomb shelters or far away from homes near the Gaza border.

In the wake of Israel's 50-day military campaign against Gaza militants, which began on July 8 and ended last Tuesday, the education ministry said on its website that the first two weeks of the new school year would be spent helping children "return to routine".

Gaza's Islamist Hamas movement may have suffered heavy military losses during 50 days of conflict with Israel but it emerged with its political standing enhanced, analysts say.

Still in shock weeks after an Israel shell blast shredded his arm and killed four members of his family, Ahmed Ayyad is one of many wounded Gazans now needing long-term care.

But many of the organisations charged with rehabilitating Gazans like him are struggling to cope in the wake of an Israeli offensive in which the United Nations estimates that more than 10,000 Palestinians were wounded, with up to 1,000 likely to suffer permanent disability.

The Palestinian Authority will pay its employees' August salaries on time and Hamas civil servants in Gaza "as soon as possible", a spokesman for the unity government said Saturday.

On Tuesday, Hamas and Israel agreed an Egypt-mediated ceasefire to end a deadly 50-day war with Israel in Gaza that killed more than 2,100 Palestinians.

Media outlets in the Maldives have raised nearly $2 million to help Gaza residents affected by massive destruction caused in the 50-day war between Israel and Hamas, a fundraising organiser said Saturday.

Thousands of militants paraded in the besieged Gaza Strip Friday, defiantly saying they would rearm as the prospects of a final deal on a long-term Israel-Hamas truce looked shaky.

Calm returned to the coastal enclave in a Tuesday ceasefire, and Gazans were gradually starting to rebuild their lives after a bloody and destructive 50-day war, the deadliest for years.

Prospects of a final deal on a long-term Gaza truce between Israel and Hamas were seen as shaky Friday after its leader ruled out Israeli demands to disarm the Palestinian militant group.

"The weapons of the resistance are sacred and we will not accept that they be on the agenda" of future negotiations with Israel, the exiled Meshaal told a news conference on Thursday in Doha.

Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal on Thursday rejected any attempt to disarm his Palestinian Islamist movement in Gaza as demanded by Israel, saying the group's weapons were "sacred".

"The weapons of the resistance are sacred and we will not accept that they be on the agenda" of future negotiations with Israel, Meshaal told a news conference in Doha where he lives in exile.

Lorries heaped with goods bound for Gaza shops heaved into the war-torn enclave on Thursday, but there was no sign of the much-needed building materials to start the all-important reconstruction.

An increasing number of trucks, carrying everything from biscuits and soft drinks to nappies, could be seen passing into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing, after a Tuesday ceasefire ended 50 days of bloody and destructive fighting.