Allies of the Israeli Prime Minister turn their backs on him after the approval of the ceasefire agreement on Gaza, which comes into force this Sunday, after 15 months of bloody conflict.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened on Sunday January 19, 2025 to leave the coalition government if Israel ended the war against Hamas in Gaza. Bezalel Smotrich leads the National Religious Party, a far-right group that is part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
On Sunday, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and other members of their Otzma Yehudit party, another party allied with Benjamin Netanyahu, said they had resigned in protest against the government’s approval of the ceasefire agreement which entered into force.
“I feel alive again”: the party in Gaza
Thousands of Palestinians took to the streets of the Gaza Strip on Sunday after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into force, some to rejoice, others to visit the graves of their loved ones, while many were eager to find out what had happened to their homes. “I feel like I finally found water to drink after being lost in the desert for 15 months. I feel alive again,” Aya told Reuters via a messaging app. .
This displaced woman, originally from Gaza City, took refuge in Deir Al Balah, in the center of the Gaza Strip, for more than a year. In the northern Palestinian enclave, where some of the most intense Israeli airstrikes and fighting against Hamas militants took place, hundreds of people were making their way through a devastated landscape of rubble. Armed Hamas fighters marched through the town of Khan Yunis, in the south of the enclave, to cheers and chants from the crowd, despite a delay of nearly three hours in implementing the ceasefire agreement. -the fire, which occurred after 15 months of a conflict which wreaked havoc.
Hamas police officers, dressed in blue uniforms, deployed to some areas after spending months trying to stay out of range of Israeli airstrikes. “Tributes to the Al Qassam brigades,” chanted a group of people gathered to cheer the fighters, referring to the armed wing of Hamas. “All the resistance factions remain despite (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu,” one fighter told Reuters, also referring to Hamas’ military wing. “This is a ceasefire, a complete and comprehensive ceasefire God willing, and there will be no return to war despite him (Israeli Prime Minister),” he added.
-Strikes just before the ceasefire
The ceasefire agreement came into effect after a delay of almost three hours from the originally scheduled time. It ends a war that brought sweeping political change to the Middle East and offers cause for hope for Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, many of whom have been repeatedly displaced.
Palestinian civil emergency services said Israeli military strikes killed at least 13 people in attacks carried out in the enclave on Sunday after the initial deadline for the truce to take effect had expired. No further attacks were reported after it was implemented at 11:15 a.m. (0915 GMT). “We are now waiting for the day when we will return home to Gaza City,” Aya said. “Damage or not, it doesn’t matter, the nightmare of death and starvation is over,” she said.
Aid trucks enter Gaza
In the streets of destroyed Gaza City, several people waved the Palestinian flag and filmed the scene with their cell phones. Carts loaded with household items moved along a thoroughfare strewn with rubble and debris. Ahmed Abou Ayham, 40, a resident of Gaza City and refugee with his family in Khan Yunis, said the scene of destruction in his hometown was “horrifying”, adding that if the ceasefire had allowed to save lives, it was not time for celebrations. “We are hurting, we are hurting deeply and it is time for us to hold each other and cry,” he said via a messaging app.
The much-anticipated ceasefire deal could help end the Gaza war, which began after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people, according to Israeli authorities. Israel’s response has destroyed much of the Gaza Strip and left nearly 47,000 dead on the Palestinian side, according to Gaza-based health officials.
In the hours before the ceasefire took effect, long lines of trucks carrying fuel and humanitarian aid formed at border crossings. The World Food Program (WFP) said it began crossing the border on Sunday morning. The agreement calls for 600 aid trucks to enter the Gaza Strip each day during the first six weeks of the ceasefire, including 50 trucks carrying fuel. “The war has ended, but life will not be better because of the destruction and losses we have suffered,” Aya lamented. “But at least I hope there will be no more bloodshed for women and children,” she added.
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