A long-term ceasefire between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza see the light after 50 days – about seven weeks – of fighting ended with losing more than 2,200 Palestinians; most of them were civilians, and more than 11.000 were injured.
UN previously said that about 100,000 Palestinians in Gaza lost their homes. But the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights claimed that the number is much more. It reported 540,000 people had been displaced in Gaza.
Israel and Palestinians in Gaza have reported to be agreed to achieve an Egyptian-sponsored long-term ceasefire, announced by Egypt came into effect at 16:00 GMT, including many demands.
Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestine President, said:
“We have responded to the Egyptian proposal for a complete and comprehensive cease-fire, which starts at 19:00 Cairo time, there will be a complete stop in fighting.”
Gaza Will Get Airport, Seaport, Assistance and Reconstruction
According to media reports, Israel agreed to ease the blockade on Gaza, including humanitarian aids, assistance and material for reconstruction.
Israel also accepted to expand a fishing zone in Gaza coast from 3 to 6 nautical miles into the Mediterranean, as well as open the border crossings, according to Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Badr Abdelatty.
He said:
“The two sides will abide by the cease-fire without a time limit. The deal includes as well the continuation of indirect talks between the two sides here in Egypt to tackle other areas of mutual interest and concerns.”
Both sides will be return to Cairo for further talks after almost a month, in order to start discussing the construction of Gaza homes, seaport and airport.
Releasing Hamas prisoners should also be a matter of discussion, as Hamas avowed to stop rocket fire from Gaza at Israel.
Celebrations of Victory All Over Gaza
After the ceasefire began, tens of thousands of Gazans responded Hamas invite to flood the streets of Gaza City, blaring victory songs and slogans.
Despite the fact that the new ceasefire is like a copy of the one that ended after war with Israel in 2012, and not receiving exactly what it asked for, celebrations were all over Gaza as Hamas declared the truce a victory.
Gaza streets were flooded with people, who came to join the celebrations, recorded chants praising God sounded from mosque loudspeakers, after Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas spokesman said during a conference:
“We are here today to declare the victory of the resistance, the victory of Gaza, with the help of God, and the steadfastness of our people and the noble resistance; we achieved some of our instantaneous demands out of this battle. We become closer to Jerusalem and our Palestinian lands.”
Image Credit: fb..com/eyeonpalestine2011
Nidal Hararah, 60, a grandfather in Gaza, said:
“Finally, we will have some time to breathe and inspect the huge damage done to our homes and properties, thank God that my family is alive … We will rebuild what was destroyed. We will defy our fears and fight for a better future.”
Image Credit: fb.com/eyeonpalestine2011
Ahmed Awf, 55, Gaza teacher came holding his 2 years son to join Celebrations, he said:
“We have mixed feelings. We are in pain for the losses but we are also proud we fought this war alone and we were not broken.”
Senior leader in Hamas: Hamas Will Re-Equip with Weapons
The senior leader in Hamas, Mahmoud Zahar, promised to rebuild homes demolished in the war and ensure that Hamas would rearm, saying:
“We will build and upgrade our arsenal to be ready for the coming battle, the battle of full liberation.”
Online -posted photos showed Palestinian children holding multi-shaped weapons during the celebrations, that matter which caused the killing of one Palestinian and wounded 19 others, according to hospital officials.
Disappointing and Criticism in Israel
The government of Benjamin Netanyahu is facing heavy Criticism from various Israeli communities who said that Israel failed to stop “Gaza militants”.
Netanyahu realized that many ministers were against the cease-fire and wanted to continue the war, however, he didn’t put the cease-fire to a vote in his security Cabinet.
Uzi Landau, Israeli Tourism Minister, criticize the Israeli government while his talking on Israel Radio for “wanting peace at any price.”
Israelis citizens said they didn’t see a bright future, taking into account the multi times that Israeli and Palestinians have relapsed into conflict.
A senior Israeli official said on condition of anonymity – quoted by CNN:
“In the end, Israel had two alternatives: either to occupy Gaza and destroy Hamas or to go to a ceasefire, once we decided not to occupy Gaza, we pushed for the same conditions that led to the end of hostilities in 2012.”
Maya Naveh, 35, from the city of Modiin, said:
“In recent years, we’ve been having these kinds of attacks on average every two years, the area is like dry thistles — you just need to throw a match, and everything is ablaze. So I am not very optimistic about the future.”
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said:
“We hope that this time, the ceasefire will stick, I think now, as the dust will begin to clear, many people will be asking: Why is it that today Hamas accepted the very same Egyptian framework that it rejected a month ago? Ultimately, so much bloodshed could have been avoided.”
Israel claimed that its army operations destroyed dozens of tunnels used by Hamas to ‘import or export’ weapons used to attack Israeli civilians.
The United Nations estimates that more than 70% of those who killed were civilians, and 67 Israelis (64 of them soldiers) have been also killed.
Israel launched 5,000 airstrikes at Gaza, while resistance in Gaza (surely including Hamas) fired close to 4,000 rockets and mortars, according to the Israeli military.
