AL JAZEERA (Qatar), JERUSALEM POST (Israel)
GAZA – The military wing of Hamas announced that it had agreed to an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire with Israel, after three days of bloodshed in and around Gaza, reports Al Jazeera.
“In response to the Egyptian efforts to try and stop the aggression on our people, we at Al-Qassam Brigades and all resistance factions declare our commitment to stop this round of confrontation, as long as the occupation (Israel) commits to stopping its crimes,” said a statement from Hamas’s military wing.
In this latest spate of cross-border violence, Hamas fired over 100 rockets from Gaza into south Israel, while Israeli airstrikes killed eight Palestinians, including three teenagers.
According to the Jerusalem Post, Israeli defense forces (IDF) are concerned the truce, which was finalized late Wednesday night, might not hold because of the involvement of Global Jihad operatives. “Some of the groups are made up of former Islamic Jihad and Hamas members. Others come from Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt.” The IDF worry that these groups do “not follow Hamas’s authority, and would be difficult to rein in to abide by a new ceasefire.”
