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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">EXPLAINER: How Should We Understand the Ceasefire in Gaza?</h1>May 13, 2023</div>
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<img src="https://www.palestinechronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/HOUSE-CEASEFIRE_palestinechronicle-678x455.png" alt="" title="HOUSE-CEASEFIRE_palestinechronicle" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img">
<img src="cid:ii_lhmhxdnm1" alt="image.png" width="392" height="263"><br>One of the homes completely
destroyed during Israeli bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip. (Photo:
Mahmoud Ajjour, the Palestine Chronicle)
<p><strong>By <a href="https://www.palestinechronicle.com/writers/palestine-chronicle-staff" title="Display all articles for Palestine Chronicle Staff">Palestine Chronicle Staff</a></strong></p><p><span>A few hours after midnight, on Tuesday, May 9, Israel launched what was meant to be a quick war on Gaza. </span></p>
<p><span>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”.</span></p>
<p><span>Palestinian Resistance which showed extraordinary strength during the war, dubbed it ‘Avenging the Free’.</span></p>
<h4><strong>Why did Netanyahu Go War? </strong></h4>
<p><span>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.</span></p>
<p><span>The buzzword in all of this has been ‘deterrence’ – as in
restoring Israel’s military superiority over Palestinian Resistance in
Gaza. </span></p>
<h4><strong>Did Israel Succeed? </strong></h4>
<p><span>“Israel’s attempt at restoring ‘deterrence’ in Gaza backfired
badly,” Palestinian journalist and editor of The Palestine Chronicle
Ramzy Baroud said.</span></p>
<p><span>“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.</span></p>
<p><span>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. </span></p>
<h4><strong>What Was the Cost of the Israeli War? </strong></h4>
<p><span>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. </span></p>
<p><span>One Israeli was also killed and others were wounded as a result of Palestinian rockets.</span></p>
<h4><strong>Why Was This a Different War? </strong></h4>
<p><span>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. </span></p>
<p><span>“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.</span></p>
<p><span>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.</span></p>
<h4><strong>What Did the Ceasefire Agreement Entail? </strong></h4>
<p><span>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. </span></p>
<p><span>Here is the exact translation of the ceasefire text, written originally in Arabic:</span></p>
<blockquote><p><span>“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.”</span></p></blockquote>
<p><em>(The Palestine Chronicle)</em></p>
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