Israel completed its military operation in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday night, agreeing to a ceasefire with Palestinian militants after seven days of all-out air strikes against the enclave and after the interception of hundreds of rockets above Israeli cities.
News of a ceasefire deal caused spontaneous jubilation in the Gaza Strip.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians who took to the streets fired guns into the air, danced, handed out candies and honked car horns. That was how they celebrated the end of a seven-day war, which they believe ended in a Palestinian victory.
“The Palestinian people and the Palestinian resistance movement have won. They have won even after concluding an agreement because its terms favor us,” a resident of Gaza, the capital of the enclave, told RIA Novosti.
The Islamist government of the Palestinian enclave officially proclaimed November 22 the “National Holiday of Victory.”
The ceasefire deal, which was brokered by the United States and Egypt, is based on the lull-for-lull principle. The ceasefire agreement entered into force at 9:00 p.m. (11:00 p.m. Moscow Time) when the Israeli Defense Forces were ordered to stop combat operations in the Gaza Strip and when they stopped responding to sporadic militant rocket attacks.
The exchange of fire in the past seven days killed 162 Palestinians and five Israelis. Israeli aircraft, army units and warships attacked 1,500 targets in the Gaza Strip. In turn, the Palestinians launched over 1,500 rockets, which hit Tel Aviv and Jerusalem for the first time.
Under the ceasefire agreement, which was published by the Arab media, Israel pledges to stop combat operations in the Gaza Strip. Israel also pledges to stop eliminating individual Palestinian militants. For its part, the Palestinian side pledges to stop any hostile actions directed against Israel from the Gaza Strip. Under the agreement, Egypt serves as guarantor of the ceasefire deal.
A Palestinian boy celebrates after the ceasefire agreement entered into force between Israel and the Hamas movement in Gaza.
