Hamas-Israel declare ceasefire

Throughout the day on Tuesday May 29^th, 2018 and into the early morning hours of Wednesday. Terrorists from Hamas fired dozens of rockets and mortars at Israel. Israel responded with tank and airstrikes on more than 50 different targets throughout Gaza.  The nearly 24hour cross-border exchange was the fiercest fighting since the 50-day war in the summer of 2014.

Both sides calibrated their actions to avoid an all-out war. Palestinian Islamic Jihad also fired heavy barrages of mortar shells in retaliation for an Israeli strike killing three members on Sunday attempting to cross the border with Gaza during the “Great Return” protests organized by Hamas. The Israeli military struck dozens of sites in Gaza overnight including drone storage facilities, military compounds, and rocket and munition workshops across the Gaza Strip.

Among the targets hit by Israel in Gaza in Tuesday was a tunnel that was built to attack Israel. Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said that it was the 10^th tunnel discovered and destroyed by Israel since October.

The attacks triggered dozens of rocket sirens in southern Israel and wounding five Israelis. Hamas and the Islamic Jihad have claimed responsibility for Tuesdays attacks. At least 25 incoming projectiles were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system, according to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).  The Israeli military said that one mortar shell landed in a kindergarten shortly before it opened, wounding one person.

After an intense night of fighting both sides have agreed to a ceasefire. A ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel appears to be holding following one of the worse days in violence in the Gaza Strip since the 2014 war.

Hamas released a statement saying that they have agreed to return to the Egyptian brokered cease-fire agreement that ended the 2014 war. Israeli officials said that the government was not party to any new deals with Hamas and that it would take its cue from the terrorist groups and only respond to fire from Gaza.

The US has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to “discuss the latest attacks on Israel out of the Gaza Strip by Hamas and other militants.”

According to a statement from US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, “The recent attacks out of Gaza are the largest we have seen since 2014. Mortars fired by Palestinian militants hit civilian infrastructure, including a kindergarten. The Security Council should be outraged and respond to this latest bout of violence directed at innocent Israeli civilians, and the Palestinian leadership needs to be held accountable for what they’re allowing to happen in Gaza.”

The last major war with Gaza, in 2014 was especially devastating, with over 2,000 Palestinians killed, including hundreds of civilians, and wide spread damage due to 50 days of fighting. Seventy-two people were killed on the Israeli side.

Hamas said that the weekly protests were calls to break through the fence and return to homes that were lost 70 years ago during the war surrounding Israel’s establishment.

Hamas and Israel are fierce enemies and have fought three different wars since Gaza was seized by Hamas.

Israel unilaterally withdrew its military presence from Gaza in 2005. But after Hamas took power over the Gaza strip Israel imposed a land and sea blockage on the enclave.

Hamas is the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, and ally of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which funds the group’s military. Israeli officials say many of the weapons fired during the conflict were manufactured in Iran and Iranian-made rockets were also a major factor in the 2014 conflict.

Since 1997 Hamas has been on the US State Departments Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) list as a designated terrorist organization.