News
Key Hamas demands deferred as ceasefire comes into effect
After more than seven weeks of violence, Israel and Hamas agreed an open-ended ceasefire which came into effect yesterday evening.
The agreement was brokered by Egypt, which has been instrumental in negotiating short-term truces between the two sides during the past several weeks. Although the terms of yesterday’s agreement were not published, they are widely reported to include Israeli agreement on easing restrictions over aid and reconstruction goods coming into Gaza and an extension of fishing limits.
However, most of Hamas’s core demands have been deferred to further talks scheduled to take place within a month. These include construction of a sea and airport, opening of borders with Egypt and Israel, the release of prisoners, and payments of salaries to Hamas employees in the Gaza Strip. Israeli officials maintain that addressing these more substantial demands will be linked to demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip, though is there no indication as to how this might be achieved.
Israeli officials stressed last night that the shape of this deal is the same as the Egyptian proposed ceasefire which Israel accepted but Hamas rejected on July 15, one week into the conflict. Spokesman for the Israeli Prime Minister’s Mark Regev noted, “now as the dust will begin to clear many people will be asking: why is it that today Hamas accepted the very same Egyptian framework that it rejected a month ago? Ultimately so much bloodshed could have been avoided.”
Meanwhile Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri claimed, “Today we declare the victory of the resistance,” as crowds of Gazans celebrated in the streets.With much still to be resolved, US Secretary of State John Kerry welcomed the ceasefire agreement with caution. He said, “We are all aware that this is an opportunity, not a certainty… We have been down this road before and we are all aware of the challenges ahead.”
The violence continued yesterday right up to the moment of the ceasefire, with 116 Gaza rockets fired at the Eshkol region alone, killing two Israeli men just minutes before the ceasefire was implemented.
Meanwhile, the Jerusalem Post reports that the UK, US, France and Germany are continuing to work towards a United Nations Security Council resolution, which would bolster the Cairo agreement. It is thought that such a resolution would call for the resumption of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.