At 1:00 a.m. local time on March 13, 2012, an Egyptian-negotiated ceasefire took effect between Israel and militant factions in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Defense Forces and Hamas rocket-launchers had been locked in four days of destructive missile volleys. Israel's Major General Amos Gilad, who ran the talks with the Egyptians, explained the truce as an opportunity to have "quiet in exchange for quiet."
Less than 24 hours after the two sides agreed to a moratorium on violence, a flurry of rockets fired at southern Israeli cities, and airstrikes on a Hamas rocket launcher and smuggling tunnel, disturbed the peace.
The girl above holds on to her teddy bears, if not hopes for peace, as she walks near the site where a rocket fired by Gaza Palestinians landed in the southern city of Ashdod on March 12, 2012.
(Photo: Nir Elias/Reuters)
Wounds Go Both Ways
On March 15, to commemorate the first full day of the ceasefire, Gaza-based rocket fire struck southern Israel, and children across the region were spending the day near bomb shelters instead of at school. Cross-border hostilities are also to blame for the wounded children above, in a Palestinian hospital in the northern Gaza Strip.
(Photo: Stringer/Reuters)
Collateral Casualty or Deliberate Target?
As reported by Haaretz, Ahmad al-Mudallal, a senior Islamic Jihad official, said his organization agreed to the ceasefire after assurances from Egyptian mediators that Israel would stop targeting Islamic Jihad militants.
As of Friday, none of the Palestinian militant groups in Gaza had claimed credit for rocket attacks launched since the truce was announced.
The specific faction responsible is immaterial to the civilian above, on her way to a hospital after Gaza rockets exploded in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod.
Photo: Nir Elias/Reuters
Clean-Up Time, Again
Veteran news reporters are assuming that the ceasefire is only a pause fire. According to the BBC:
Most commentators feel that the truce—mediated by Egypt after four days of Israeli air strikes and rocket fire from Gaza that left at least 25 Palestinians dead and dozens of Israelis injured—is unlikely to bring more than a temporary lull in the cycle of violence.
A Palestinian man, above, is seen through a broken car window as he cleans the scene after another car nearby exploded in Gaza City.
Photo: Suhaib Salem/Reuters
Clean-Up Time, Once Again
Israelis are seen through a burned car after a rocket fired from Gaza landed in Ashdod. Rockets believed to have been fired by Islamic Jihad landed deep enough into Israel to set off sirens on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.
Uzi Rubin, a former Israeli Defense Ministry official, attributed Israel's relatively low casualty count to its effective rocket-interception system—the Iron Dome.
Photo: Nir Elias/Reuters
Fires in Gaza
Gaza resident Samer Sukar told CNN from a hospital bed, "When I was sleeping, all of a sudden I found the entire house falling on top of us."
What we are facing are short rounds of violence like in April, August, October, and now this week, followed by a period of quiet. Another round, another period of quiet.
Photo: Sahaib Salem/Reuters
Explosions in Netivot
Approximately 1 million Israelis live within rocket range of the Gaza Strip.
Eti Ifrah, a 23-year-old living in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod, says, "It's a very difficult time for us. It's impossible to live like this—every time we want a shower or anything, we're worried a bomb will fall."
The lesson the Palestinian resistance groups should learn is that the Egyptian-sponsored truce, which managed to stop the aggression and the assassinations, is temporary. The resistance groups should prepare for another round, which might be tougher and bloodier.
Photo: Amir Cohen/Reuters
Fresh Rubble in Jabalya
Khaled al-Batsh, a senior leader of the Islamic Jihad group in Gaza that was most active in the recent outburst, stated: "If Israel is committed to the agreement, we also will be committed to it."
However, al-Batsh does not speak with unanimity behind him. For instance, the Palestinian parliament's acting speaker, Ahmad Bahar, urged a united response by all factions to Israeli "aggression."
Photo: Suhaib Salem/Reuters
School's Out in Beersheba
An Israeli boy looks for ball bearing shrapnel on a wall of a school in the southern city of Beersheba, after it was damaged by a rocket fired by Palestinian militants in Gaza. Israel's Home Front Command had declared that schools could open after a "calm" took hold. Mayors of Ashdod, Ashkelon, Beersheba, and Gan Yavne decided that schools would remain closed in their cities.
Photo: Amir Cohen
Destroyed Bedroom in the Gaza Strip
According to Reuters, "The truce agreement followed appeals from the United States, the United Nations, France, the European Union and the Arab League for both sides to exercise restraint."
On a local level, Eshkol Regional Council Head Haim Yelin expressed little hope for continued restraint to Ynet: "Rocket fire on Beersheba will become routine."
Photo: Suhaib Salem/Reuters
Business as Unusual
A woman stands at the doorway of a shop in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod. The shop was damaged by a rocket fired by Palestinian militants in Gaza.
Hamas, the ruling faction of Gaza is, according to the Jewish Chronicle, dealing with an internal crisis after its leadership left Damascus to distance itself from the Assad regime. Hamas reportedly approached the Egyptians and asked them to mediate the ceasefire.
Here's the question: Is there enough faith in the current truce to warrant replacing the glass in that window?
