Hamas declares victory, Israel agrees to Egyptian ceasefire

[FAH1223]

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeas ... 92859.html

Palestinians are celebrating in Gaza after Egyptian and Palestinian officials said an open-ended agreement had been sealed with Israel to end seven weeks of fighting in Gaza.

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, said on Tuesday from the occupied West Bank that a formula had been accepted by all parties and that a ceasefire had gone into effect at 16.00 GMT.

He hailed the agreement as a chance to "build a new nation and end the occupation", before thanking Egypt, Qatar and the US for their roles in brokering the agreement made during indirect talks in Cairo.

The Reuters and AP news agencies quoted Israeli officials as saying that the Israeli government had accepted the deal. Israeli media reported the same.

Crowds took to the bombed-out streets of Gaza to celebrate the end of hostilities, and reports that the deal would include reconstruction and an easing of Israel's almost seven-year blockade.

Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons, reporting Gaza, said that the deal agreed an immediate easing of Israel's control of crossings into Gaza, and a gradual lifting of restrictions on fishing off the coast of the strip.

Discussions on the creation of a seaport and airport will take place in a month, when indirect talks betwen Israel and Palestinians will resume.

Hamas's exiled deputy leader, Moussa Abu Marzouk, said the agreement was a "victory for the resistance".

Israeli air raids continued in the run up to the ceasefire on Tuesday, as jets attacked two Gaza City high-rise buildings, collapsing one and severely damaging the other.

One attack levelled the 15-storey Basha tower and severely damaged a 13-storey building known as the Italian complex, which was home to 70 families and dozens of shops and offices.

Palestinian health officials said 20 people were wounded in the Italian complex attack.

A total of 2,138 people, most of them civilians including more than 490 children, have been killed in Gaza since war broke out on July 8.

Thousands of homes have been destroyed or damaged in the conflict, while the Palestinian Center for Human Rights said 540,000 people had been displaced by the violence.

[James Dahl]

Holy shit they did win, they ended the blockade

Good for Hamas

[Shirib]

GUUL FALASTIIN

[SultanOrder]

Hamas think it's a victory if Israel stop the mass killings.

All in all I wouldn't hold my breath, Israel will "ease" the blockade to shape international opinion only to reverse it for "security" concerns. It's going to be another "land for peace" hoopla for the arabs.

[Hodan94]

wait till another 2 yrs.... they will continue to bomb gaza.

[FAH1223]

Holy shit they did win, they ended the blockade

Good for Hamas

Hamas accepts a deal that it rejected before. Israel accepts a deal without removing the rocket threat.

Big winners: proponents of the status quo ante. Other big winners: Contractors lining up to rebuild Gaza and make a buck off of humanitarian relief.

Losers in Hamas camp: Meshal, Qatar, Turkey
Losers in Israel: Bennett, Liberman
Wild cards: Both peace camps. Curious if they can capitalize

[Hodan94]

^^^ horta where was meshaal throughout the months of constant bombardment of gaza

its like he re-appeared from nowhere when the ceasefire was announced.

the ppl of gaza don't need the likes of him, they survived the oppression by civilians working with ach other

[FAH1223]

^^^ horta where was meshaal throughout the months of constant bombardment of gaza

its like he re-appeared from nowhere when the ceasefire was announced.

the ppl of gaza don't need the likes of him, they survived the oppression by civilians working with ach other

He's in Doha

[unstoppablefade]

Lol @ another "truce" aka time for Hamas to reload their rockets. It's quite obvious what Hamas is doing, how many damn truces are they going to break for people to see what's happenining. I'm tired of this narrative that Israel is the big bad scary guy antagonizing the maskiin Hamas fighters. I garuntee that this truce will be be broken in the coming hours.

By no means am I a Zionist/Israeli sympathiser, but Israel is stuck playing Hamas's rigged game. Hamas proposes a truce, time for them to restock/reload/regroup and get stronger....If they say no the international media and the world will rip them apart for being so evil.

[Osob101]

Victory? They are still occupied and unless Israel ceases to exist than never can there be a peace. Israel must be destroyed at all cost

[jamal9]

the attention needs to be focused on ISIS, that's why Israel agreed to ease the blockade. US will bomb ISIS to extinction, even Syria govt gave permission to US to fly over Syria.

[FAH1223]

Lol @ another "truce" aka time for Hamas to reload their rockets. It's quite obvious what Hamas is doing, how many damn truces are they going to break for people to see what's happenining. I'm tired of this narrative that Israel is the big bad scary guy antagonizing the maskiin Hamas fighters. I garuntee that this truce will be be broken in the coming hours.

By no means am I a Zionist/Israeli sympathiser, but Israel is stuck playing Hamas's rigged game. Hamas proposes a truce, time for them to restock/reload/regroup and get stronger....If they say no the international media and the world will rip them apart for being so evil.

[Machiavelli2]

What victory? It is one thing, for politicians to narrate their failures as success, but what is wrong with the masses? What are they celebrating for? If Hamas were a ruling party in a Western democracy nation, the public would have been impeached and ran them out office. There is something rotten about the way the Palestinian masses are manipulated by club Khalid Mash'al who live and lead comfortable lives in Doha. Israel has achieved its objective and Hamas leadership have accepted now all the conditions they previously rejected. Why didn't they accept these conditions earlier and sparred the lives and properties of their people?