the mediation of the Egyptian government, Israel and the Palestinian organizations agreed yesterday in Cairo an indefinite cease-fire to end a conflict that devastated the Gaza Strip after 50 days of fighting and 2,200 dead.
The Egyptian Foreign Minister, Samih Shukri said in a statement that Israel and Palestinian leaders reached "broad agreement". The pact also the cessation of hostilities, provides for the immediate opening of Gaza's border crossings with Israel and Egypt, and an expansion in the fishing area for Palestinians in the Mediterranean.
"Once again, we passed the Egyptian proposals for a truce, calling for an end to all hostilities," said a senior government of Benjamin Netanyahu.
Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, said in a televised message the beginning of a truce "to stop the aggression against the Gaza Strip, the bloodshed and the killing of children." "Now you must continue humanitarian aid to Gaza," he said. Other Palestinian leaders such as Khaled al-Bach, Islamic Jihad, and Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Suhri welcomed the agreement. "It was a Palestinian victory, our armed resistance achieved what Arab armies could not achieve," said Suhri.
The Secretary of State, John Kerry, welcomed the ceasefire and said his country will contribute to the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip. "I strongly support the agreement and call on all parties to fully comply with its terms," he said in a statement. Kerry expressed his hope that the ceasefire is "durable and sustainable" and to serve as a bridge to achieve a "lasting end" to the conflict in the Middle East.
For his part, Secretary General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon, expressed his hope that the agreement could trigger a "political process" between Palestinians and Israelis.
Once the cease-fire was announced through loudspeakers in the mosques of Gaza, Palestinian militants fired into the air to celebrate the end of Israeli attacks.
The Israeli military offensive against the Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip began on July 8, with the stated aim of destroying its network of tunnels, including some who came to Israel, and stop the firing of rockets from the enclave goal. The previous trigger was the murder of three young Israelis at the hands of Islamist militants. The clashes left more than 2130 Palestinians dead, mostly civilians and including some 500 children, according to sources from the Palestinian Health Ministry. At least 11,100 people were injured. A child on the Israeli side, 64 soldiers and five civilians were killed, including. The IDF executed about 5000 attacks on Gaza, while Palestinian militants fired 4200 rockets into Israel.
After 50 days of pumps, the agreement signed by both parties allow ease the siege on the Gaza Strip, which the Israeli government has maintained since 2007, when Hamas took political control of the area.
The opening of the main border crossing permit entry of construction materials and sanitary aid, basic for the reconstruction of Gaza and assistance to the thousands of wounded. The strategic location of Rafah on the border with Egypt, will be controlled by the Palestinian government, according to the agreement.
Another concessions to the Palestinians extends six miles the area where fishermen fishing Gazans, who after successive conflicts with Israel saw their work area of 20 nautical miles to three.
The fine print of the agreement stipulates that the Israeli and Palestinian delegations will negotiate in Egypt within a month. With the protection of Cairo in those talks will address how to rebuild the Gaza airport destroyed by bombs, and a more sensitive issue: the release of Islamist prisoners hundred, one of the Hamas demands that delayed the final agreement.
The ceasefire comes after several failed attempts to achieve a lasting truce. For whatever reason, the previous ceasefire attempts had blown up in a matter of hours or days.
Israel, which considers Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations always said he would not negotiate under fire. In fact, before the truce yesterday fighting had intensified. The Israeli air force yesterday attacked at least 60 targets in the Gaza and destroyed the Al-Basha building of 13 floors, it was turned into rubble in southern Gaza City. The building, previously evacuated, housed offices of journalists and a medical office. A few hours earlier, the Israeli army had attacked several missiles a residential and commercial complex with 100 homes and 150 businesses in the north of the city. An Israeli military spokesman claimed that there were Hamas control centers. Palestinian militias, meanwhile, also attacked several Israeli targets yesterday before the announcement of the truce.
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