From the BBC:
“Israel and Palestinian
militants agree Friday ceasefire”
Israel and the Palestinian
militant group Hamas have agreed an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire, which is due
to come into effect early on Friday. It brings to an end 11 days of bombardment
in which more than 240 people have died, mostly in Gaza. The Israeli cabinet
confirmed the decision to approve a "mutual and unconditional"
ceasefire. A Hamas official confirmed a "mutual and simultaneous"
truce from 02:00 on Friday (23:00 GMT Thursday). US President Joe Biden later
said that Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had confirmed that time to
him. The US president said the ceasefire brought "genuine
opportunity" for progress. On Thursday more than 100 Israeli air strikes
targeted Hamas infrastructure in the north of Gaza. Hamas retaliated with
rocket fire. Fighting began in Gaza on 10 May after weeks of rising
Israeli-Palestinian tension in occupied East Jerusalem that culminated in
clashes at a holy site revered by both Muslims and Jews. Hamas began firing
rockets after warning Israel to withdraw from the site, triggering retaliatory
air strikes. At least 232 people, including more than 100 women and children,
have been killed in Gaza so far, according to its Hamas-controlled health
ministry. Israel has said at least 150 militants are among those killed in
Gaza. Hamas does not give casualty figures for fighters. In Israel 12 people,
including two children, have been killed, its medical service says. Israel says
some 4,000 rockets have been fired towards its territory by militants in Gaza.
What have the two sides said? The
Israeli Political Security Cabinet said it had "unanimously accepted the
recommendation" for a ceasefire. "The political echelon
emphasizes that the reality on the ground will determine the continuation of
the campaign," it added. Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz said
on Twitter that the Gaza offensive had yielded "unprecedented military
gains". A Hamas official told the Associated Press that the
ceasefire announced by Israel amounts to a "victory" for the
Palestinian people and a defeat for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
What is Hamas? Within
minutes of the announcements, the Israeli military said warning sirens were
sounding in southern Israel, indicating that rockets had been fired from Gaza.
Meanwhile Palestinian media in Gaza reported fresh air strikes on the
territory.
What led to the ceasefire? Both
sides have been facing increased international pressure to end hostilities. On
Wednesday, US President Joe Biden told Mr Netanyahu "that he expected a
significant de-escalation today on the path to a ceasefire". Egypt,
Qatar and the UN have played leading roles in mediating the ceasefire talks
between Israel and Hamas, which rules Gaza. Egyptian President Abdel
Fattah al-Sisi has ordered two security delegations into Israel and the
Occupied Palestinian Territories to work towards upholding the ceasefire,
according to Egyptian state TV.
Analysis box by Jeremy Bowen,
Middle East editor Just as in the other wars since Hamas took over in Gaza
in 2007, the two sides are claiming victory. A senior Hamas leader told
the BBC in Gaza that Israel had promised to "lift their hand off Sheikh
Jarrah and Al-Aqsa Mosque". He was referring to one of Islam's holiest
mosques and the Jerusalem district which became a flashpoint during an attempt
to evict Palestinian families from their homes. Israel denied there was
any such understanding. Benny Gantz, the defence minister issued a statement
saying that after the past eleven days Israel can show military achievements
"unprecedented in their scale and strategic significance for the struggle
with terrorist organisations in Gaza". On both sides survivors and
the bereaved from missiles and bombs are not claiming victory. By far the
majority of the dead and injured are Palestinians in Gaza, which also suffered
hundreds of millions of dollars of physical damage. The horrible
tradition in these things is that sometimes both sides like to show they can
fire the last shot and there is an intense period in the last hour or so, I
hope that doesn't happen, but it might. Both sides have also been
crafting what is referred here sometimes as victory narratives. It is
the fourth big war between Israel and Hamas since the first one back in the end
of 2008 and after each of those encounters, and all the smaller ones in
between, similar things have been said by both sides in claiming victory and
then essentially the seeds of the next conflict are sewn. I can tell you one
thing for certain - that if the status quo does not change favourably, there
will be another round of this.
Timeline: How the violence
escalated The worst violence in years between Israel and the Palestinian
territory of the Gaza Strip has seen dozens killed. It follows a month of
spiralling tensions before open conflict broke out. Here is what happened in
the lead-up to the fighting. Clashes erupt in East Jerusalem between
Palestinians and Israeli police. Palestinians are angry over barriers
which had been placed outside the Damascus Gate entrance to the Jerusalem‘s Old
City preventing them from gathering there after prayers at the Old City’s
al-Aqsa Mosque on what is the first night of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Palestinian discontent had been stoked earlier in the day when President
Mahmoud Abbas called off planned elections, implicitly blaming Israel over
voting arrangements for Palestinians in East Jerusalem. Hamas - Mr
Abbas' Islamist rivals who control Gaza and were running in the elections -
react angrily to the postponement. Violence around Damascus Gate and
elsewhere in East Jerusalem continues nightly.
15-16 April Rockets are
fired from Gaza at Israel, which responds with air strikes after a relative
period of calm between Israel and the Palestinian enclave.
19 April Clashes spread to
the mixed Arab-Jewish port city of Jaffa, next to Tel Aviv.
20 April In Jerusalem,
Jewish youths, angry over a spate of filmed assaults by Palestinians on
Orthodox Jews posted on the TikTok video-sharing app, attack Arabs and chant
anti-Arab slogans.
23 April Hundreds of ultra-nationalist Jews shouting
“Death to Arabs” march towards Damascus Gate in protest at the Arab assaults on
Jews. Clashes erupt at the site between Palestinians and police trying to
separate the two groups, injuring dozens of people. Violence between Arabs and
Jews spreads to other parts of the city.
24 April Militants fire
dozens of rockets at Israel from Gaza, drawing retaliatory air strikes.
2 May President Abbas'
Fatah faction and Hamas condemn the looming threatened eviction of Palestinian
families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah district of East Jerusalem by
Jewish settlers ahead of a planned court hearing. Hamas calls on Arabs to form
“human shields of resistance” there. In the days that follow, police and
protesters repeatedly clash at the site as it becomes a focal point for
Palestinian anger.
4 May Militants in Gaza
begin sending incendiary balloons into Israel over successive days, causing
dozens of fires.
7 May Two Palestinian
gunmen are shot dead and a third is wounded after opening fire on Israeli
security forces in the northern West Bank. Israeli authorities say the group
planned to carry out a “major attack” in Israel. Later on after Friday
prayers - the last of Ramadan - major clashes erupt at the al-Aqsa mosque
compound, injuring more than 200 people. Israel's police force says it used
“riot dispersal means”, firing rubber bullets and stun grenades after officers
came under a hail of stones and bottles.
8 May A second night of
violence erupts in East Jerusalem after tens of thousands of worshippers prayed
at the al-Aqsa mosque for Laylat al-Qadr, the holiest night of Ramadan. Police
and protesters clash at Damascus Gate, with police using water cannon, rubber
bullets and tear gas against crowds of Palestinians, some throwing stones. More
than 120 Palestinians and some 17 police are injured.
9 May Israel's Supreme
Court postpones the hearing on the Sheikh Jarrah case following calls to delay
it because of the growing unrest. Tensions remain high though and more clashes
take place between Israeli police and Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah and at Damascus
Gate.
10 May Early morning
clashes break out between police and Palestinians at the al-Aqsa mosque
compound, where crowds throw stones and officers fire stun grenades. Palestinian
anger has been inflamed by an annual Jerusalem Day march planned for later in
the day by hundreds of Israeli nationalists to celebrate Israel's capture of
East Jerusalem in 1967. The march is due to pass through predominantly
Arab parts of the Old City in what is seen by Palestinians as a deliberate
provocation. It is rerouted at the 11th hour, but the atmosphere remains
volatile with more than 300 Palestinians and some 21 police injured in the
violence at the holy site. Hamas issues an ultimatum to Israel to
“withdraw its soldiers... from the blessed al-Aqsa mosque and Sheikh Jarrah” by
18:00. When the deadline passes without an Israeli response, rockets are fired
towards Jerusalem for the first time in years. Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu says the group has “crossed a red line” and Israel
retaliates with air strikes, killing three Hamas fighters. A continuing
exchange of rocket-fire and air strikes quickly escalates into the fiercest
hostilities between the two sides since they fought a war in 2014.
^ Hopefully this cease-fire lasts and the international community puts pressure on Hamas and stops them from importing weapons. I also hope Israel destroyed enough of Hamas' weapons stash, tunnels and leaders so that the ceasefire lasts. ^
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