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A ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militias in Gaza “will probably take place soon,” a spokesman for the Hamas terrorist movement told EFE news agency.
“A cease-fire will probably take place soon, but it depends to a large extent on whether the Israeli occupation is willing to respect Palestinian rights,” the same source said.
For the past two days, rumors have been circulating in various media that, through Egyptian mediation, a cease-fire could come into effect today, Thursday, a possibility that Israel has denied and that Hamas neither confirmed nor denied.
But Musa Abu Marzuq, a senior official of the Hamas terrorist movement, advanced last night in an interview with a Lebanese television station that a truce could be imminent.
“I expect a ceasefire to be reached within a day or two, and the ceasefire will be on the basis of mutual agreement” Abu Marzuq said.
The possibility of a cessation of hostilities is gaining momentum as international pressure mounts for a truce to end 11 days of escalating warfare, which has left 230 Palestinians dead in the strip and 12 people in Israel.
International pressure
President Joe Biden urged “a significant de-escalation today on the path to a ceasefire” in a telephone conversation with Israel’s acting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday, although Netanyahu later came out in favor of continuing the military operation in Gaza to finish dismantling Hamas’ military infrastructure.
Netanyahu insisted on the need to “return calm and security” to its citizens, in what he described as “a forceful deterrence” against the terrorist militias.
To push for a cessation of hostilities, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas is visiting Israel today to discuss “how the international community can help bring the violence to an end and bring about a reliable truce as quickly as possible.”
Despite international pressure for a cease-fire, the Israeli army resumed shelling multiple Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip early this morning, from where rocket fire continued today into neighboring Israeli communities after a relatively quiet morning, including an anti-tank missile that hit a bus, slightly injuring a soldier.
The Israeli army, for its part, continued today with its bombardments in the enclave, which after hitting early this morning in places of production and storage of weapons, hit today several sites from which the militias launched rockets, in addition to tunnels allegedly used by the terrorist group for the movement of fighters and the transport of weapons from one area to another of the enclave.
Pris Guinovart is a writer, editor and teacher. In 2014, she published her fiction book «The head of God» (Rumbo, Montevideo). She speaks six languages. Columnist since the age of 19, she has written for media in Latin America and the United States // Pris Guinovart es escritora, editora y docente. En 2014, publicó su libro de ficciones «La cabeza de Dios» (Rumbo, Montevideo). Habla seis idiomas. Columnista desde los 19 años, ha escrito para medios de America Latina y Estados Unidos
