Ceasefire brings relief but end to war in Gaza ‘still not guaranteed'
There certainly is a long way to go. So this is the first day – three captives are released. Saturday is day seven in which four captives will be released. Then every week following that, three captives will be released until the sixth and final week of phase one in which 14 Israeli captives will be released at once.
But around day 16 of these 42 days, that’s when negotiations for phase two will start. It’s a little bit more complicated because there are measures that the Israeli government previously said were non-negotiables – like withdrawing from key areas like Netzarim and the Philadelphi Corridor, and throughout the Gaza Strip. So there are these negotiations that are going to have to restart about phase two.
Netanyahu says that he has the right to go back to the fighting if the terms are not what he wants. If Hamas violates the ceasefire. Everyone is waiting with bated breath to see what’s going to happen. This ceasefire came as a sigh of relief but an end to the war is still not guaranteed.
A man sits on a lounge chair atop a heavily-damaged building along Saftawi street in Jabalia in northern Gaza on Monday.
First night in Gaza ‘without fear of Israeli missile strikes’
People here are spending their first night in more than a year without fear of Israeli missile strikes.
Without fear they won’t make it until the morning.
Though the new day might bring a glimmer of hope that this fragile ceasefire will become a permanent peace, it will also reveal the monumental task of rebuilding lives shattered by Israel’s destruction of the Gaza Strip.
People walk towards their homes through the destroyed streets of Gaza City on Sunday.
Israeli troops shoot and injure teen in Gaza, witnesses say
The Israeli military shot and injured a Palestinian teenager in central Gaza on Monday, the day after the ceasefire went into effect, according to journalists working with CNN.
In a statement, the Israeli military said that troops fired “warning shots” toward people in several areas in Gaza after they were identified approaching soldiers. It said that it was operating in accordance with the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel that came into effect on Sunday.
Witnesses said the teenager was part of a group of Palestinians who flocked to the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza to inspect damaged homes. Videos showed people attempting to treat the teenager, who was conscious.
The ceasefire deal stipulates that the Israeli military would withdraw away from densely populated areas. Thousands of displaced Palestinians have been returning to inspect damage inflicted on their homes during the war.
“The IDF is operating in accordance with the ceasefire agreement, will prevent any disturbances, and will keep to the defensive lines as agreed,” the Israeli military said in a statement.
A general view of the heavily damaged and partially collapsed buildings at Bureij refugee camp in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, on Monday
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