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<h1 class="reader-title">A ceasefire is in place, but it's not
the victory that Netanyahu wanted</h1>
<div class="credits reader-credits">Motasem A Dallou - May 21,
2021</div>
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<p>As I write it is almost midnight on Thursday, and after
a two-and-a-half hour meeting of Israel's security
cabinet it has been reported that there is to be a
ceasefire in the military offensive against the Gaza
Strip, where I live. According to Israeli journalist
Yaron Avraham on <em>Channel 12</em>, the Israeli army
will stop its shelling of Gaza immediately, but it will
be resumed if the Palestinian resistance groups do not
stop firing rockets towards the occupation state.</p>
<p>The Egyptian government told the Palestinian factions
in Gaza that a ceasefire with Israel will start on
Friday at 2am. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu's office confirmed that the security cabinet
had approved this unanimously. The ministers agreed to
"accept the Egyptian initiative for a mutual ceasefire
without any conditions…"</p>
<p>Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan confirmed the
reports, and pointed out that, "The Palestinian
resistance will be ready to respond to any Israeli
violations." <em>Al Jazeera</em> reported that Cairo
had informed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who is based
in Doha, that the ceasefire will take effect at 2am on
Friday.</p>
<p>Earlier, Israeli army officers claimed to have made
"unprecedented" gains over the past eleven days of
bombardment. "Hamas is deterred and has suffered serious
blows," one officer is reported to have told ministers.</p>
<p>The bombardment began after the Palestinian resistance
groups in Gaza responded to more than 20 days of Israeli
violence against Palestinian worshippers in Al-Aqsa
Mosque, and Israel's refusal to abandon plans to expel a
number of Palestinian families from their homes in
Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood. The homes were
to be handed over to illegal Jewish settlers through a
lengthy and false legal process.</p>
<p>When the resistance groups responded to the Israeli
violations they set several goals, including an end to
settler and police harassment and provocation in Al-Aqsa
Mosque, and no expulsion of Palestinians from Sheikh
Jarrah. Israel's goals in pounding Gaza included the
destruction of the resistance infrastructure and the
re-imposition of the army's deterrence factor.</p>
<p><strong>READ: <a
href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210519-the-pro-israel-lobby-fears-that-support-could-self-destruct-over-the-bombing-of-gaza/">The
pro-Israel lobby fears that support could
self-destruct over the bombing of Gaza</a> </strong></p>
<p>From day one, the Palestinian resistance surprised
Israel with its ability to fire hundreds of rockets of
varying ranges, which in turn imposed another kind of
lockdown on around 70 per cent of Israel, which had just
come out of the Covid lockdown, as air raid sirens
sounded and the people ran to the bomb shelters. The
Palestinian rockets even paralysed Ben Gurion Airport.</p>
<p>Despite claims to the contrary, the Israeli attacks on
Gaza were one failure after another. The first wave hit
two gatherings of civilians, killing children in Jabalia
and Beit Hanoun. The army used drones to identify
military targets, but failed to find any. Undaunted, it
continued to target civilians while claiming to be
targeting resistance facilities and fighters.</p>
<p>Every morning, following heavy and brutal overnight
bombardments of civilians and civilian infrastructure,
army spokesman Avichay Adraee briefed the media about
the military facilities, rocket launchers, tunnels and
fighters that had been targeted. The reality is that
Israeli bombs and missiles were hitting residential
buildings, government offices and civilian
infrastructure, including strategic roads and junctions
— which meant, for example, that ambulances couldn't get
to the main Al-Shifa Hospital with casualties — as well
as the telecom, water, sewage and electricity networks.
Most of all, the bulk of the casualties have been
civilians, mainly children and women.</p>
<div id="attachment_472295" class="wp-caption">
<p><img data-attachment-id="472295"
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data-orig-file="https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/20210521_2_48392085_65366490.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1"
data-orig-size="1200,800" data-comments-opened="0"
data-image-meta="{"aperture":"4","credit":"Abed
Rahim Khatib","camera":"Canon
EOS 5D Mark
III","caption":"RAFAH, GAZA -
MAY 21: Palestinians carry a model of Dome of the
Rock (Kubbet'us-Sahra) as they gather for a
celebration after \"mutual and
simultaneous\" cease-fire deal between Israel
and Hamas reached with Egypt mediation took effect
at 2 a.m. Friday (2300GMT Thursday), ending the
11-day conflict, in Rafah, Gaza on May 21, 2021. (
Abed Rahim Khatib - Anadolu Agency
)","created_timestamp":"1621557058","copyright":"\u00a9Anadolu
Agency","focal_length":"16","iso":"2000","shutter_speed":"0.016666666666667","title":"RAFAH,
GAZA - MAY 21: Palestinians carry a model of Dome of
the Rock (Kubbet'us-Sahra) as they gather for a
celebration after \"mutual and
simultaneous\" cease-fire deal between Israel
and Hamas reached with Egypt mediation took effect
at 2 a.m. Friday (2300GMT Thursday), ending the
11-day conflict, in Rafah, Gaza on May 21, 2021. (
Abed Rahim Khatib - Anadolu Agency
)","orientation":"1"}"
data-image-title="RAFAH, GAZA – MAY 21: Palestinians
carry a model of Dome of the Rock (Kubbet’us-Sahra)
as they gather for a celebration after “mutual and
simultaneous” cease-fire deal between Israel and
Hamas reached with Egypt mediation took effect at 2
a.m. Friday (2300GMT Thursday), ending the 11-day
conflict, in Rafah, Gaza on May 21, 2021. ( Abed
Rahim Khatib – Anadolu Agency )"
data-image-description=""
data-medium-file="https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/20210521_2_48392085_65366490.jpg?fit=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1"
data-large-file="https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/20210521_2_48392085_65366490.jpg?fit=933%2C622&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1"
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alt="Palestinians carry a model of Dome of the Rock
as they gather for a celebration after "mutual
and simultaneous" cease-fire deal between
Israel and Hamas took effect at 2 am Friday (2300GMT
Thursday), ending the 11-day conflict, in Rafah,
Gaza on 21 May 2021. [Abed Rahim Khatib - Anadolu
Agency]" data-recalc-dims="1" data-lazy-loaded="1"
width="546" height="364"></p>
<p class="wp-caption-text">Palestinians carry a model of
Dome of the Rock as they gather for a celebration
after "mutual and simultaneous" cease-fire deal
between Israel and Hamas took effect at 2 am Friday
(2300GMT Thursday), ending the 11-day conflict, in
Rafah, Gaza on 21 May 2021. [Abed Rahim Khatib –
Anadolu Agency]</p>
</div>
<p>On what has turned out to be the final day of the
offensive, the Israeli army claimed that it had killed
160 Palestinian fighters, including senior officials,
even though of the 232 people killed by its bombs, 65
were children, 39 were women and 17 were elderly. The
remainder included disabled people and other civilians.
Israel's claim doesn't add up. It has lied in order to
appease the audience at home and cover up its war crimes
to salve the conscience of the ineffectual international
community.</p>
<p>One claim made throughout the past week is that Israel
had damaged the so-called Hamas "Metro", a network of
tunnels used by resistance fighters. A security source
told Israeli <em>Army Radio</em> that this was a
strategic achievement sold to the cabinet. According to
Israeli journalist Itamar Eichner speaking on <em>Kan</em>
public broadcaster, this was fake news, as was the
cabinet meeting and vote on the ceasefire initiative
proposed by Cairo. An investigation conducted by Israeli
<em>Channel 11 TV</em> found that the "Metro" was an
Israeli invention intended to be marketed as a military
achievement to the Israeli and international audience.</p>
<p>While the Israeli cabinet was discussing the ceasefire,
Hebrew-language news service <em>Rotter Net</em>
pointed out that rockets from Gaza were still falling
across Israel. Retired Brigadier General Zvika Vogel
commented on the ceasefire saying: "The security
situation today is the most despicable since 1973.
Netanyahu is selling us fake stories which are not
buyable. We have nothing save the white flag which is
the symbol of surrender. We are disabled and without
operational feasibility. Everything for us is bad."</p>
<p>Netanyahu and his defence team, which were involved in
launching the offensive, are hiding from the media. A
spokesman for the Palestinian resistance groups,
meanwhile, took to the airwaves to announce the
ceasefire and at the same time warn Netanyahu and the
Israeli army that any violation of the agreement would
bring the rockets back to the skies above Israeli
cities.</p>
<p><strong>READ: <a
href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210521-the-agony-of-palestinian-dispossession/">The
agony of Palestinian dispossession</a> </strong></p>
<p>"This is a strong blow to Israeli deterrence," said
Israeli Knesset Member Gideon Saar about what is said to
be a unilateral ceasefire. "Halting the military action
without imposing restrictions on the reinforcement of
Hamas power and armaments would be a political failure
for which we will pay the price."</p>
<p>Political and crime commentator for Israeli <em>Channel
13 TV</em>, Aviad Glickman, wrote on Twitter: "It
seems that the Prime Minister is afraid of briefing the
citizens of his country about the latest updates. So
that, we have the news from <em>Al Jazeera</em> and
Arabic media."</p>
<p>According to Netanyahu's political partner Itamar
Ben-Gvir MK, "The ceasefire is a spit in the face of the
people in the south [of Israel]." He pledged that he
will not support Netanyahu's bid to cobble together
another coalition government despite backing him before
the offensive.</p>
<p>If Netanyahu really believed that he has won, he would
have posed for the media and held a press conference to
brag about his victory. But what his army did in Gaza
was shameful, as it only killed civilians and destroyed
their infrastructure and facilities.</p>
<p>Almog Ben Zikri from <em>Haaretz</em> reported that
the Palestinian resistance fired 4,369 rockets at Israel
during the 11 days of the offensive against Gaza,
including more than 300 fired during the last 12 hours.
The Hamas military wing stressed that it is ready for a
long battle with the occupation state, and reiterated
that its stockpile of weapons is still full of rockets
made from basic materials.</p>
<p>The difference, it noted, is that the resilient freedom
fighters are supported by international law, which
guarantees the right of occupied people to resist the
occupation power by any means at their disposal.
Israel's "self-defence" has no such legitimacy. A
ceasefire may be in place, but it's not the victory that
Netanyahu wanted.</p>
<p>The views expressed in this article belong to the
author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial
policy of Middle East Monitor.</p>
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