Ceasefire between Hamas and Israel consolidates
After 11 days of intense escalation, Israel and Hamas have finally reached a ceasefire agreement, which came into force at 2 a.m. local time this morning. A senior Resistance Movement official said in an interview on Wednesday that a cessation of hostilities was expected to take place in "one or two days".
Diplomatic efforts have stepped on the gas, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to the ceasefire that the entire international community was demanding. Yesterday afternoon, Netanyahu convened his emergency cabinet in Jerusalem to confirm the cessation of hostilities. The Israeli prime minister has been reluctant to agree to a ceasefire until the last moment.
Netanyahu has stated on multiple occasions that he would not cease his offensive against Gaza until he had achieved his goals in the enclave and weakened Hamas. US President Joe Biden has had to contact the prime minister on as many as four occasions, during the last call urging Netanyahu to "de-escalate".
Once again, Egyptian mediation has been decisive in reaching a ceasefire agreement in a conflict that has claimed the lives of 232 Palestinians, including 65 children, as well as 12 Israelis. But on the day before the ceasefire came into effect, sirens again blared in Israeli territory as an exchange of attacks took place, the last before the cessation of hostilities.
Once the ceasefire was in effect, thousands of people in the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Territories took to the streets to celebrate. But now that the attacks have ended, it is time to assess the damage, and to rebuild the Gaza Strip, which has been left with little infrastructure.
The US president, during a speech broadcast from the White House, pledged to marshal international resources to rebuild Gaza, adding, "we will do so in full partnership with the Palestinian Authority in a way that does not allow Hamas to replenish its arsenal." The White House has also announced that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken plans to travel to the Middle East "in the coming days" to meet with Israeli, Palestinian and regional leaders to discuss recovery efforts.
For his part, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has ordered two security delegations to Israel and the Palestinian Territories to work on ceasefire maintenance. Everything now depends on the real intention of both Hamas and Israel to respect the ceasefire agreement.
Both sides have claimed victory in this contest. According to the Associated Press, a senior Hamas official declared that the ceasefire announced by Israel was a "victory" for the Palestinian people and a defeat for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Resistance Movement has also managed to fire more than 4,300 rockets into Israeli territory.
In Israel, sentiments are quite the opposite, with Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz sharing on Twitter that the offensive in Gaza had produced "unprecedented military advances". Moreover, the Israeli army raised to 160 the number of militiamen killed, among them engineers, rocket production experts and veteran commanders who will be difficult to replace.
For now, all that remains to be seen is what the ceasefire will mean and the basis on which both Israel and Hamas have agreed to the ceasefire. For now, the international community can breathe a little easier, but if the roots of the problem are not addressed, it will always be a latent conflict that could wake up at any moment and put the world back on hold. A conflict that has been raging for 73 years and leaves countless civilian casualties.
