Jerusalem/Gaza
Following a similar announcement made by Islamic Jihad a short while earlier, Israel has stated that an agreement to restore a ceasefire for Gaza will go into effect at 11:30 p.m. local time (4:30 p.m. ET).Over forty people were killed in Gaza over the course of the weekend’s violence.
Over forty people were killed in Gaza over the course of the weekend’s violence. The Office of the Prime Minister of Israel issued a brief statement in which it thanked Egypt for its efforts in mediating the ceasefire and warned that “the State of Israel maintains the right to respond strongly” in the event that the ceasefire was violated.
Escalation began
About fifty hours after the escalation began, when Israel launched what it called preemptive strikes on Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza, the announcement was made.
Egypt, just as it did during previous flare-ups in Gaza, has assumed a central role in the efforts to bring an end to the fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants.
The terms of the deal
The terms of the deal were not immediately available to the public. In spite of this, Egypt’s official state news agency reported that as part of its efforts to broker a ceasefire, Cairo was working to secure the release of an Islamic Jihad militant who had been captured by Israel six days prior, as well as the transfer of a Palestinian prisoner who was on hunger strike in an Israeli jail to a hospital for medical treatment. Both of these measures were taken in an effort to ensure that the ceasefire would be successful.
According to reports
According to reports, Israel has previously made commitments as part of previous ceasefire agreements to lessen the severity of its closure of Gaza. Hamas, which refrained from participating in the conflict, declared that the Israeli operation marked “a new stage in the Palestinians’ freedom struggle against the Israeli occupation.”
Both Ibrahim Dahman and Andrew Carey of CNN contributed reporting from their respective locations in Gaza and Jerusalem.
