Tense quiet settles over south after ceasefire commences
A tense quiet settled over southern Israel Monday morning after another ceasefire between the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror groups and Israel came into effect.
Defences at the ready Photo: Elior Cohen/TPS
The IDF announced that all limitations and precautions following the hostiles have been removed, and life can go back to normal. Schools opened at most locations in the south.
Israel and Hamas have reportedly resumed talks on a long-term ceasefire, and Hamas will receive millions in funds from Qatar and an ease on other terror-related restrictions Israel has placed on Gaza.
The supposed end of the hostilities comes after an extremely violent 60 hours of warfare, in which the Gaza-based terror groups fired close to 700 rockets at Israeli cities and towns, killing four Israelis and wounding dozens of others, some still in serious condition.
The victims are Moshe Agadi, 58 and a father of four, Ziad al-Hamamda, 47, Moshe Feder, 68, and Pinchas Menachem Prezuazman, 21 and a father of a baby.
The Iron Dome defense systems intercepted some 240 rockets on their way to Israeli to civilian targets. While the system had a 90 percent success rate, buildings took direct hits from rockets.
In response to the attacks, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) carried some 350 strikes against terror groups, killing some 20 terrorists and hitting strategic terror targets.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far remained silent on the latest developments. Just hours before the ceasefire came into effect he met with a delegation of US ambassadors in Europe led by US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman. He updated the delegation on the security situation, and said that Israel had the right to defend itself, adding that it would “take all necessary measures to ensure this.”
This was the 11th such round of attacks-retaliations between Israel and the Gazan terror groups in the last year.
