Photo: Fatima Shbair / Getty Images
A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect on Friday morning, hours later that both parties agreed to end more than 10 days of fighting that claimed hundreds of lives.
The truce, mediated by Egypt, began at 2 a.m. Friday in Israel, at 7 p.m. Thursday in the eastern United States, as people on both sides of the divide between Palestine and Israel watched nervously to see if it would hold , reported The New York Times.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Thursday night that his security cabinet had voted unanimously to accept the Egyptian proposal, and officials from Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza , confirmed that it had also accepted.
But each side warned that its compliance with the truce could depend on the actions of the other.
Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas agreed to a ceasefire, after more than a week of conflict that left hundreds of deaths, most of them Palestinians .
The truce marks the end of bloodshed
During the last 11 days, Israeli air strikes killed 232 Palestinians , including 65 children, according to the Hamas-led health ministry there.
At least 12 people in Israel , including two children, have been killed by Palestinian militant fire from Gaza, according to the IDF and the Israeli emergency service.
In a speech broadcast from the White House, President Joe Biden lamented “the tragic death of so many civilians, including children” and praised Israeli and Egyptian officials.
Noting that he had spoken to Prime Minister Netanyahu six times during the crisis, he said: “I congratulate you on the decision to put end to current hostilities in less than 11 days. ”
The consequences of the confrontation
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have carried out a devastating aerial bombardment of Gaza , pointing to the vast tunnel network of Hamas and other infrastructure in the territory Palestinian. Some 72,000 inhabitants of Gaza have been displaced, UNICEF said Wednesday.
Palestinian militants have shot more than 4, 000 rockets against Israel , according to the IDF. The longest pause in rocket fire since Gaza , which was more than eight hours, took place overnight on Thursday , while Israeli military action continued.
International pressure to protect civilians
The truce follows a series of diplomatic attempts to press for a ceasefire.
The President of the United States, Joe Biden , and his administration had flagged messages about Israel in recent days, including Biden’s fourth call with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu , on Wednesday, reported CNN.
I believe that Palestinians and Israelis equally deserve to live in safety and security and to enjoy equal measures of freedom, prosperity, and democracy.
My Administration will continue our quiet and relentless diplomacy toward that end. pic.twitter.com/mXe39 TyVMz
– President Biden (@POTUS) May 20, 2021
Biden also spoke with Egyptian President Fattah Al Sisi , while Secretary of State from the United States, Antony Blinken, spoke with his Israeli counterpart, Gabi Ashkenazi, and reiterated that the United States expected to see a “de-escalation on the way to a ceasefire.”
UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres , added his voice to the calls for an immediate ceasefire in a passionate speech in Nueva York. “If there is hell on Earth, it is the lives of the children in Gaza today,” he said, according to a transcript of his remarks. “Even wars have rules. First of all, civilians must be protected ”.