World
A ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians aimed at ending their seven-week conflict in Gaza appeared to be holding as the focus shifted to securing an arrangement for the long term. According to Reuters:
No clear victor emerged from what had become a war of attrition between the Middle East's most powerful armed forces and the dominant Hamas militant movement in the Gaza Strip.
Exacting a heavy toll in Palestinian lives and property, Israel said it dealt a strong blow to Hamas, killing several of its military leaders and destroying the group's cross-border infiltration tunnels. But Israel also faced persistent rocket fire for nearly two months that caused an exodus from a number of border communities and became part of daily life in its commercial heartland.
Palestinian and Egyptian officials said the deal, which was mediated in Cairo and took effect on Tuesday evening, called for an indefinite halt to hostilities, the immediate opening of Gaza's blockaded crossings with Israel and Egypt and a widening of the territory's fishing zone in the Mediterranean. A senior official of the Islamist group Hamas, which runs Gaza, voiced willingness for the security forces of Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the unity government he formed in June to control the passage points.
Both Israel and Egypt view Hamas as a security threat and are seeking guarantees that weapons will not enter the territory of 1.8 million people.
Although the truce is open-ended, tough issues concerning the region have not been addressed. The Washington Post writes:
In recent days, Israel had stepped up its pressure on Hamas, toppling five towers containing offices, apartments and shops since Saturday. Two of those buildings were brought down in airstrikes early Tuesday that destroyed dozens of apartments and shops. Hamas has emerged from the war badly battered.
Just one-third of its initial rocket arsenal of 10,000 remains, according to Israel and the Islamic group’s network of attack tunnels under the border with Israel has been mostly destroyed. Despite its victory celebrations Tuesday, Hamas failed to force an end to the Gaza blockade, imposed by Israel and Egypt after the Islamic militants seized the seaside strip in 2007.
Under the restrictions, virtually all of Gaza’s 1.8 million people cannot trade or travel. Only a few thousand are able to leave the coastal territory every month. The cease-fire deal makes no mention of ending the ban on exports from Gaza or significantly easing travel. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a long-time rival of Hamas, will likely play a key role in any new border deal for Gaza.
Abbas, who lost Gaza to Hamas in 2007, is expected to regain a foothold there under any Egyptian-brokered agreement. Forces loyal to Abbas would be posted at Gaza’s crossings to allay fears by Israel and Egypt about renewed attempts by Hamas to smuggle weapons into the territory.
Israel is also concerned that material for reconstruction would be diverted by Hamas for military purposes.
