After 11 days of a deadly war, the Israel-Hamas conflict will be settled with a ceasefire. In a statement issued by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, it was stated that the Political Security Cabinet has accepted a suggestion for a “bilateral ceasefire without any conditions.”
Taher Al-Nono, the adviser to the head of Hamas political bureau has also confirmed Hamas’ agreement for the ceasefire. It is expected to start at 2 a.m. local time. Moreover, two different security delegations will be sent by Egypt to Tel Aviv and Palestinian territories, confirmed by MENA.
On Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces affirmed that Gaza had stopped attacking Israel with rockets from 1 a.m. to 9 a.m. local time. Ever since the Israel-Hamas conflict began last week, this was the longest halt. Despite Gaza holding back on its attacks, Israel continued a series of airstrikes on the state of Gaza without remorse, claiming that the purpose was to stop Hamas from ever attacking in the future.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had spoken to President Joe Biden on-call, where Biden informed the Israeli Prime Minister of an impending “de-escalation today on the path to a ceasefire.” Although Netanyahu did not agree, he thanked Biden for his support and insisted on his country’s persistence “to restore calm and security” to its civilians. In a conversation with reporters, Netanyahu also declared his determination to continue the operation until the goal is met.
Source: bismillahnews.com
After the announcement of a ceasefire, Biden addressed the general public and said that the people of Israel and Palestine both deserve to live equally and enjoy measures of “freedom, prosperity, and democracy.” And that to achieve these principles, the Biden administration aims to continue their “quiet and relentless diplomacy toward that end.”
Dr. Basen Naim, former Palestinian health minister spoke to ABC News about the potential of a ceasefire agreement, but only based on a few conditions. Israeli forces must stop the destruction of Al-Aqsa and Israel must stop expelling Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah. In light of the conditions, Naim mentioned that these conditions were not made by Hamas, but were just a requirement of international law. However, Israel was not interested in pursuing this alternative.
Before the news of the truce was confirmed, there were rumors of a settled agreement on Israeli media. However, many analysts were not entirely convinced; they didn’t think the two parties would stop the bloodshed. Ghassan Khatib, a former Palestinian cabinet minister did not consider this a likely possibility as Netanyahu is looking towards reelection. Khatib also added that Netanyahu is only “buying time from the Biden administration by talking about the ceasefire,” while simultaneously continuing his assault on Gaza.
Over the past week, countless families in Gaza have lost not only their homes but also their loved ones. Saleh Hijazi, Amnesty International’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa pointedly called out Israel for bombing residential buildings without prior warning. Hijazi was not only perplexed at the ‘objectives’ that Israel aimed to accomplish, but also the lack of humanity shown in their actions.
