According to the Associated Press, the fight in Gaza is supposed to stop for a while as the Israelis and Hamas have agreed to a temporary ceasefire.
In Cairo, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said the truce scheduled to take effect at midnight (2101 GMT) would allow humanitarian aid into battered Gaza neighborhoods and the reopening of indirect talks on a more lasting and comprehensive deal.
Hamas is seeking an end to the Israeli-Egyptian blockade against Gaza, while Israel wants Hamas to dismantle its formidable arsenal of rockets and other weapons.
[…]
Qais Abdelkarim, a member of the Palestinian delegation, said indirect talks with the Israelis would begin Monday “with the hope of reaching a lasting cease-fire.” The goal, he added, was to end the blockade, which he called “the reason for the war.”
Yeah, well the reason for the blockade was to stop suicide bombers from blowing up Israelis. The Israelis have continued bringing food and aid into Gaza during the brief, well until Hamas rockets hit the crossings today. I’m writing this post on Sunday night, so let’s see if the ceasefire holds until morning.
UPDATE: AFP says the ceasefire is holding.
More than 12 hours into the truce, there were no reports of violations on either side and signs of life emerged on the streets of the war-torn coastal enclave which is home to 1.8 million Palestinians.
Shops and businesses opened their doors and outside a UN-run school, a clutch of cars and donkey carts waited to take some refugees back to homes they had fled during the fighting.
Comments
11 responses to “Israel & Hamas agree to temporary ceasefire”
Do we start a pool on when the first Hamas rocket is fired?
Put me down for $5 on Monday evening 1900 hrs GMT.
According to the media reports, Hamas doesn’t launch the rockets. The rockets simply land in Israel and Israel attacks. The last few breaches of cease fire were reported that way.
I’ll put $2 on 7:45PM local time.
According to my friends on the scene, they like to shoot at about 8 pm when the news is on so they get maximum exposure. I’ll take $5 for 8pm local time, plus or minus 15 minutes.
“Qais Abdelkarim …said indirect talks with the Israelis would begin Monday….” Actually, he told an aide. The aide sent an email to the Acme electronic billboard company, and the company posted the message in Tel Aviv. Israel also responded indirectly, using a carrier pigeon.
Again?
(What was that definition of insanity?)
The question is this:
Is Hamas going to wait for the ceasefire to end before popping out of their tunnels to attack or will they do it once they are in position?
This silly ceasefire, just like all the others, is just to allow Hamas time to gather their troops and reposition some rockets for the next round.
Unfortunately, Israel is on the wrong side of the media so if a cease fire is offered, they almost have to take it or suffer the media slings and arrows.
Unfortunately “Cease Fire” to Hamas means “Hold on, we’re reloading”