Wall Street Journal reports: Israel and Hamas agreed to a 72-hour cease-fire in Gaza starting Tuesday as Israeli forces were winding down their monthlong campaign in the Palestinian territory. The deal followed Israel’s pullout of most of its forces from the Gaza Strip over the weekend.
The military said Monday that it had completed the core mission of its operation, neutralizing tunnels that militants used for cross-border attacks. But Israel said it remained on alert to relaunch the offensive if rocket fire from Gaza persisted.
Both sides were under intense pressure to end the fighting. As expected, UN usually lead global criticism of Israel; it has been doing so since decades. As far as the global community and its opinion is concerned, its biased opinion is based on Palestinian civilians getting killed by Israeli attacks quietly forgetting Gaza is a densely populated area with Hamas hiding its arsenal in civilian areas: homes, mosques, schools, museums, UN buildings! “The conflict left more than 1,800 Palestinians dead and Israel said it has lost 64 soldiers and three civilians. Israel said it destroyed more than a third of Hamas’s estimated arsenal of 10,000 rockets and plugged up more than 30 tunnels. The fighting left Hamas in charge of a territory without electricity or clean water and at least 260,000 of its 1.8 million people displaced.” the U.N. said.
So far, no ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have lasted more than a few hours. It will be a miracle if this one lasts for 72 hours. Israel seems to have achieved what it set out to do: destroy tunnels running under its territory, and Hamas militants sneaking from there to kill its citizens and soldiers randomly. With a small population, Israel cannot sustain a war that drags on for days and months. Apparently, the current deal brokered by Egypt, appears to have a stronger backing from the Palestinian side! Perhaps Hamas was feeling the heat form Palestinians themselves over a combined blockade from Egypt and Israel; Egypt was not exactly enamored by Hamas tactics or its ideology leaving it with the adage; my enemy’s enemy is my friend.
