After Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday night called together senior security sources to discuss a long-term ceasefire with Hamas and other Gazan terrorists as proposed by Egypt, Palestinian Authority (PA) sources on Tuesday afternoon claim Israel has agreed to the truce.
A senior PA official told AFP that a “permanent” ceasefire for Gaza has been reached with Israel, saying “the contacts that have been going on have agreed a permanent ceasefire, a (deal to) end the blockade and a guarantee that Gaza’s demands and needs will be met.”
There was no immediate comment from Israeli sources about the ceasefire talk, which comes as Hamas terrorists continue to shower rockets on Israeli civilian centers Tuesday.
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Egypt are poised to announce the ceasefire in Gaza and, separately, the implementation of Abbas’s new “national initiative” on Tuesday, according to senior PA sources who spoke with Walla!.
The US has already voiced its opposition to Abbas’s “plan,” which essentially consists of asking the United Nations to set a deadline for Israel to withdraw behind the 1949 Armistice lines, and make way for the establishment of “Palestine.” Apparently Abbas intends to present his plan in Ramallah on Tuesday night.
At 7 p.m. Abbas plans to announce the ceasefire and initiative, according to the Lebanese TV channel Al Mayadeen, as cited by Channel 2.
The Egyptian-brokered ceasefire reportedly will follow in the footsteps of the ceasefire reached after the 2012 Operation Pillar of Defense, and leave issues such as a sea and airport in Gaza for discussions a month after the truce.
So who won?
Aside from the PA, Hamas and Islamic Jihad have also indicated that a ceasefire is imminent, with the sources saying Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has accepted the truce.
Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal’s deputy Moussa Abu Marzouk said Tuesday “the negotiations have concluded. We’ve reached understandings and the resistance has won. We are waiting for a cessation of the aggression.”
Haniyeh was quoted on Hamas TV as saying “we are close to a political understanding,” praising the “firm position of our people.” Islamic Jihad leader Khaled al-Batash likewise added that “mere hours remain until the declaration of a ceasefire.”
Despite the talk of a Hamas victory, the terror organization has taken a hard blow in a recent string of assassinations since it breached the last ceasefire last Tuesday.
Among those taken out were Hamas’s top financial chief Mohammed al-Ghoul, and three top commanders of Hamas’s “military wing,” the Al-Qassam Brigades. Those strikes are said to have triggered “panic” among Hamas ranks, and sparked a bloody campaign of executions of suspected informants.
Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif was also targeted in a strike last Tuesday night; there are mixed reports as to whether it found it’s mark, with Hamas claiming he survived what would be the fifth attempt on his life by Israel, but not saying anything about his condition. According to reports, Israel knew the location of the arch-terrorist as many as three days ahead of the strike, but chose not to act on the rare opportunity to take him out due to the ceasefire.
As early as Monday morning Islamic Jihad was said to have been pushing for a ceasefire; the Iranian proxy group has also sustained serious damage in the course of 50 days of fighting.
There has been growing frustration against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Israel about the lack of decisive action against Hamas in the IDF operation, now on its 50th day, as well as the willingness to make repeated ceasefires that have in turn been breached by Hamas.
That frustration was illustrated in a survey for Channel 2, which found on Monday that in just four days Netanyahu’s approval rating dropped from 55% to 38%; at the time of the ground entry to Gaza earlier in the operation, that rating was as high as 82%.
Adding to that assessment was Barak Seener, an Associate fellow at Britain’s Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies, who told Arutz Sheva on Monday that Israel is “choosing not to win” the war in Gaza, saying the Jewish state “should not subject itself to norms and procedures that no military of any western liberal democracy would ever consider.”
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