[ad_1]
A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, went into effect on Friday in the early hours of the end of an 11-day conflict that killed at least 232 Palestinians and 12 Israelis.
The Egyptian-mediated truce sparked celebrations in Hamas-controlled streets of Gaza, ending the worst fighting in seven years.
But an official from the militant group warned that he had “his hand in the trigger”, calling on Israel to end the violence in Jerusalem and to address the widespread damage in Gaza, Reuters reported.
In a statement on Thursday afternoon, Israel’s security cabinet offered the possibility of resuming its military strikes and said: “The political leadership stresses that it is the reality on the ground that will determine the future of the country. ‘operation’.
Israeli planes and planes remained in the skies over Gaza before the ceasefire deadline early Friday to deter Hamas from launching a large-scale volley before the ceasefire, the army said. Israeli. Small rescues continued as the clock counted down, he said. Israel has now lifted all restrictions on movement near the Gaza Strip.
The truce came after the The US increased the pressure in Israel to end its bombing of Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu initially resisted, but Israel’s security cabinet voted unanimously Thursday in favor of a “mutual and unconditional” ceasefire in Gaza.
“I congratulated him on his decision to end the current hostilities in less than eleven days,” U.S. President Joe Biden said Thursday after speaking with Netanyahu for the sixth time since the conflict began.
Biden said his administration had held “intense high-level debates, hour by hour, literally” in recent days with the aim of avoiding the kind of conflict that has characterized past fighting between Israel and Hamas. The 2014 war between Israel and Hamas lasted seven weeks and killed more than 2,000 Palestinians and 73 Israelis, mostly soldiers.
Taher al-Nono, media adviser to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, said: “The Palestinian resistance will commit to this agreement as long as the occupation does.”
The ceasefire comes after Israeli warplanes and artillery attacked Gaza for more than a week, targeting Hamas militants, but causing enormous destruction in the densely populated strip that houses 2 million people. of people. At least 104 women and children have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials.
Hamas, which fought three wars with Israel between 2009 and 2014, fired more than 3,700 rockets at Israeli cities and towns and killed two Israeli children.
The latest conflict began on May 10 after weeks of tensions in and around Jerusalem. It also provoked community unrest between Israelis and minority Arab Jews, a rarity that unsettled political leaders and a wider society in Israel, and widespread unrest in the occupied West Bank.
The ceasefire agreed on Thursday afternoon was promoted by Egypt, which has been mediating along with the United States and Qatar. Cairo said it would send two security delegations to Tel Aviv and the Palestinian territories to monitor implementation measures.
As part of the negotiations, a regional official said Hamas wanted to end the expulsion of Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem, a move that helped trigger the 11 days of violence; the end of the curbs around the al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam; and facilitate the delivery of aid and reconstruction materials to Gaza. The mosque is located in an enclosure of Jerusalem, known by Muslims as the Haram ash-Sharif, or noble shrine, and by Jews as the Temple Mount, which is sacred to both religions. Palestinian officials have called for protests in the occupied territories and Israel on Friday.
Biden said the United States would help Israel recover from it Iron dome the missile defense system, which he said had “saved the lives of countless Israeli citizens, Arabs and Jews.” He said the United States would also support the reconstruction of Gaza in collaboration with the Palestinian Authority, “not Hamas,” in a way that would prevent the militant group from regaining its military arsenal.
“I believe that Palestinians and Israelis also deserve to live in security and enjoy equal measures of freedom, prosperity and democracy,” he said.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Thursday described Gaza as “hell on earth” for children. “Hostilities have caused serious damage to vital civilian infrastructure in Gaza, including roads and power lines, contributing to a humanitarian emergency,” he told the UN General Assembly.
[ad_2]
Source link
