SHAFAQNA (International Shia News Association)- Despite nearly 2,000 lives lost in Gaza and the destruction of thousands of homes, hundreds of Gaza residents took to the streets to celebrate Hamas’ “victory” over Israel as a new, long-term ceasefire came into effect Tuesday evening.
People and traffic filled the streets with drivers honking horns and crowds chanting slogans.
The truce stipulates the removal of Israeli blockade as well as the provision of a guarantee that Palestinian demands will be met.
Crossings between Israel and Gaza will open and the two sides will continue holding indirect talks, according to the deal.
The Palestinian territory’s fishing zone will also be widened in the Mediterranean.
The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas said the deal marks a victory for Palestinians and called for mass rallies in the occupied West Bank.
“We are here today to declare the victory of the resistance, the victory of Gaza, with the help of God, and the steadfastness of our people and the noble resistance,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a news conference at Gaza’s Shifa Hospital.
“The value of this campaign is not in the opening of this crossing or that crossing, but in paving the way for the next stage – liberating Jerusalem,” Zuhri said.
Another Hamas official, Izzat al-Risheq said that Israel “could not achieve any military success in 51 days of fighting aside from its war crimes on defenseless citizens, the majority of whom are women, elderly, and children.”
Israeli warplanes and tanks started pounding the blockaded enclave in early July, inflicting heavy losses on the Palestinian land.
Some 2,139 Palestinians, mostly civilians, including women, children and the elderly, were killed in 50 days of Israeli onslaught on Gaza. Around 11,000 others were injured.
Tel Aviv says 69 Israelis have been killed in the conflict, but Hamas puts the number at more than 150.
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