Israel calls a unilateral cease fire

Although a unilateral cease-fire has been called as of 2AM on Sunday the tensions between Gaza and Israel are still at a dangerous level. Mere hours later rockets were fired into southern Israel claiming no victims and shortly afterward an airstrike was reported in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun which wounded a woman and her child.

'[UN Chief] Ban [Ki-moon] welcomed the Israeli move and called on Hamas to stop its rocket fire. "Urgent humanitarian access for the people of Gaza is the immediate priority," he said, declaring that "the United Nations is ready to act." '

"Israel apparently reasons that the two-phase truce would give it ammunition against its international critics: Should Hamas continue to attack, then Israel would be able to resume its offensive after having tried to end it. It was not immediately clear how many rockets would have to fall to provoke an Israeli military response.

Hamas, which rejects Israel's existence, violently seized control of Gaza in June 2007, provoking a harsh Israeli blockade that has deepened the destitution in the territory of 1.4 million Palestinians. The Israeli war did not loosen Hamas' grip on Gaza, and the group vowed that a unilateral cease-fire was not enough to end the Islamic movement's resistance.

"The occupier must halt his fire immediately and withdraw from our land and lift his blockade and open all crossings and we will not accept any one Zionist soldier on our land, regardless of the price that it costs," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said.

More moderate Palestinians also reacted with skepticism to Israel's two-phase truce and called on world leaders attending the Egypt summit to press Israel to pull out its troops immediately.

"This is an important and necessary event but it's insufficient," said Abbas, Hamas' bitter rival and the top leader in the West Bank, the larger of the two Palestinian territories. "There should be a comprehensive Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, a lifting of the siege and a reopening of crossings" to aid, he said. "

[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/8279971]

So still no withdrawal of troops from Gaza, meaning a continuation of the ongoing humanitarian crisis. Cease-fire possibly being thrown up in the air due to further attacks on Israel by Hamas.



Shauneen.