Israel and Hamas respected first 24 hours of truce in Gaza

The Israeli army, Hamas militias – group that controls the Gaza Strip since 2007 and Islamic Jihad scrupulously fulfilled the first day of a 72 hours ceasefire, which began on Tuesday at 8.00 pm and end on Friday at 8:00 local time, no attacks have occurred and no deaths in either of the two sides.

Secretary of State, John Kerry, said Wednesday in an interview with the BBC that ” both parties must yield ” to reach an agreement for lasting ceasefire. Representatives of various Palestinian groups (including political wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad) and a delegation of the Israeli government have come to Cairo to continue negotiations, according to Kerry, ” should be more substantial.” Egyptian mediators engaged in this dialogue, which is always indirect because Israel considers Hamas a terrorist group and the Islamist group does not recognize the Jewish state.

Egypt will deploy its ” best efforts “, according to a government spokesman to meet Palestinian demands, especially the lifting of the blockade on the Palestinian Gaza weighs seven years. The representative of the Quartet (EU, UN, USA and Russia) for the Middle East, Tony Blair, is also in the Egyptian capital. Kerry has also stressed the need to resume the search for a negotiated two-state solution, that of Israel and a Palestinian state.

” We want to support the Palestinians in their desire to improve their living conditions and they can open the crossings [ with Israel and Egypt ] to access food and have more freedom,” said Kerry to the BBC. ” But that comes great responsibility toward Israel which translates into giving up the rockets,” he added. Israel believes that Palestinian militias still have thousands of rockets.

On Tuesday, Israel completed the withdrawal of all its troops from Gaza while over 400,000 citizens of the Gaza -refugees in UN schools and houses host side returned to their homes to assess the damage of the bombings. With a ” mission accomplished” in his Twitter account, the Israeli Army is congratulated by the end of the tunnel operation against the Islamist group Hamas in Gaza.

It is the first time during the offensive that both sides respect the cessation of hostilities for 24 hours. The truce last 72 hours, last week announced unilaterally by the Israeli army, lasted just 90 minutes. Hamas ‘s armed wing (the Al-Qassam Brigades Ezzeldin) launched two rockets into Israel that caused no deaths were attributed. Israel, minutes later responded with a bombing in the border town of Rafah (southern Gaza) causing 40 deaths.

Nearly 1,900 deaths and losses of billions in 30 days in Palestinian Gaza since the beginning of the longest Israeli offensive, which began on July 8, 1,867 dead and 9,563 wounded, mostly civilians, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. On the Israeli side are 67 deceased, of which 64 are soldiers and three civilians (two Israeli and Thai).

Losses on the Palestinian side for the military operation have been valued at 5,000 million dollars, according to Efe. Public buildings, private homes -some 10,600, according to the Palestinian Ministry of information, infrastructure gas, electricity and water have been damaged during the bombing.

The Israeli Ministry of Finance estimated that between weapons, 82,000 reservists compensation, property damage, victims compensation and lost productivity, the cost of the operation to Israel is 3,500 million dollars (2,600 million euros).

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Posted by Khalil Khan on Aug 7 2014. Filed under World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.