[News] EXPLAINER: How Should We Understand the Ceasefire in Gaza?

[Anti-Imperialist News]

palestinechronicle.com
<https://www.palestinechronicle.com/explainer-how-should-we-understand-the-ceasefire-in-gaza/>
EXPLAINER: How Should We Understand the Ceasefire in Gaza?May 13, 2023
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[image: image.png]
One of the homes completely destroyed during Israeli bombardment of the
besieged Gaza Strip. (Photo: Mahmoud Ajjour, the Palestine Chronicle)

*By Palestine Chronicle Staff
<https://www.palestinechronicle.com/writers/palestine-chronicle-staff>*

A few hours after midnight, on Tuesday, May 9, Israel launched what was
meant to be a quick war on Gaza.

Right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense
Minister Yoav Gallant took charge of the battle from the very start,
dubbing it “Shield and Arrow”.

Palestinian Resistance which showed extraordinary strength during the war,
dubbed it ‘Avenging the Free’.
*Why did Netanyahu Go War? *

Analysts suggest that Netanyahu had two major aims in this war: increasing
his popularity among ordinary Israelis who have been leading mass protests
against the Israeli leader and his government since early January; and
convincing far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to
rejoin the government’s votes at the Israeli Knesset, or parliament.

The buzzword in all of this has been ‘deterrence’ – as in restoring
Israel’s military superiority over Palestinian Resistance in Gaza.
*Did Israel Succeed?  *

“Israel’s attempt at restoring ‘deterrence’ in Gaza backfired badly,”
Palestinian journalist and editor of The Palestine Chronicle Ramzy Baroud
said.

“The way that the Palestinian Resistance reacted this time around through a
unified position, and calculated retaliations, suggest a degree of maturity
and strength, unprecedented in the history of all Palestinian Resistance
groups,” Baroud added.

Indeed, just seconds before an Egyptian-mediated ceasefire went into effect
at 10 pm (Palestine time) on Saturday, May 13, short and long-range
Palestinian missiles were reportedly fired toward Israel.
*What Was the Cost of the Israeli War? *

Israel did what it does best in these situations. It killed 33 Palestinians
and wounded 150 more. Some of those targeted by the hundreds of Israeli
attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip were military commanders in the Islamic
Jihad in Palestine (IJP) movement. However, the majority of the dead and
wounded were civilians.

One Israeli was also killed and others were wounded as a result of
Palestinian rockets.
*Why Was This a Different War? *

The Palestinian operations were different, this time around. Though the
Resistance was largely sustained by IJP alone, the battle itself was
managed by the Joint Operations Room of the Resistance. Practically, this
means that the IJP operated as if a branch of a larger Palestinian
Resistance network, as opposed to a fully independent group.

“If the IJP alone has managed to create a stalemate and to balance out the
political impact of the Israeli war on Gaza, imagine what all Palestinian
groups would have been able to do if they collectively joined the battle,”
Baroud said.

In fact, the prospect of Hamas joining the fight seemed a terrifying one,
as expressed by Israeli politicians and media commentators on various
Israeli TV channels during the four-day war.
*What Did the Ceasefire Agreement Entail? *

The ceasefire agreement was written in such a way that would allow the
Palestinian Resistance to claim that Israel has committed to freezing the
assassination policy, while allowing Israel to also claim the opposite.

Here is the exact translation of the ceasefire text, written originally in
Arabic:

“Based on the agreement between the two sides, Egypt announces a ceasefire
between the Palestinian and Israeli side, exactly at 10 pm on the night of
May 13, 2023. And based on this, (both sides) agree to commit to a
ceasefire that ends the targeting of civilians, the destruction of homes,
and also the targeting of individuals. And that is to begin at the moment
of the start of the ceasefire. Egypt calls on both sides to abide by the
agreement and will work to follow up with both sides.”

*(The Palestine Chronicle)*
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