Ceasefire, celebrations, uneasy calm
Residents of badly-hit Gaza as well as Israel voice relief; America’s top diplomat set to travel to Mideast for talks on road ahead
GAZA CITY/TEL AVIV: A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls the Gaza Strip, appeared to hold on Friday after 11 days of deadly fighting that pounded the Palestinian enclave and forced countless Israelis to seek shelter from rockets.
Gaza City was quiet under a cover of fluffy clouds, with only a thin column of smoke wafting into the skies after Israeli airstrikes came to a halt, an AFP journalist reported.
Celebrations were seen on Gaza’s streets in the minutes after the truce began as cars honked their horns and guns were fired in the air, AFP journalists reported, while in the occupied West Bank, joyful crowds also took to the streets.
With no alerts sounding in Israel to warn of incoming Hamas rockets, calm reigned across much of the Jewish state.
Residents on both sides of the conflict voiced relief that a ceasefire had taken effect. “It’s a good decision to be honest with you because people from both sides are done with what’s going on,” said Amwrah Dana, a Palestinian resident of Jerusalem.
In Tel Aviv, Avital Fast said he was optimistic about the road ahead. “I really hope that it will remain because the only thing that we want here is to live our life without any alarms or fire.”
The truce brokered by Egypt, that also included Gaza’s second-most powerful armed group, Islamic Jihad, was agreed following international pressure to stem the bloodshed which erupted on May 10.
A statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the security cabinet had “unanimously accepted the recommendation of all of the security officials... to accept the Egyptian initiative for a mutual ceasefire without preconditions”. Hamas and Islamic Jihad also confirmed the ceasefire in statements.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken will meet with Israeli, Palestinian and regional counterparts in the coming days to discuss “recovery efforts and working together to build better futures for Israelis and Palestinians”, said US state department spokesman Ned Price.
Israeli strikes on Gaza have killed 232 Palestinians, including 65 children, as well as fighters. But Al Jazeera was reporting on Friday that the death toll was creeping up. Hamas’s rockets have claimed 12 lives in Israel, including one child, a teenager and an Israeli soldier.
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