A tentative clam has been reigning over the Gaza Strip since 10:45 pm local time after a ceasefire agreement was reached on Thursday night between the Palestinian resistance factions and Israel.
The agreement was brokered by Egypt and the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process who led efforts to prevent another war. Both have repeatedly called for the restoration of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in previous months.
While Israeli officials denied the existence of a ceasefire Israel’s Channel 10 quoted an Israeli diplomat as saying that there was a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas which would go into effect at midnight.
Israel had launched scores of airstrikes on Gaza over the past day provoking the Palestinian resistance to retaliate by firing a spate of rockets and mortars at Israeli military targets and settlements.
A surge in Israeli airstrikes and Palestinian counterattacks in recent weeks prompted the UN and Egypt to try to broker a truce to prevent another all-out conflict.
Despite those truce efforts Israel escalated its aerial attacks on Gaza on Wednesday night and Thursday striking more than 150 targets in Gaza and forcing the Palestinian resistance to respond
One of Israel’s air raids on Wednesday claimed the lives of three Palestinian civilians in Gaza including a pregnant mother and her one-year-old daughter.
