Hamas claims victory in Gaza as cease-fire with Israel takes hold
A tentative cease-fire between Israel and Hamas took hold Friday as the terror group c🅷laimed victꦚory after 11 days of deadly fighting.
Israeli airstrikes killed 232 Palestinians, including more than 66 children, wounded more than 1,900 and damag🃏ed critical infrastructure and thousan🅠ds of homes in the enclave.
ಞAccording to the Israel Defense Forces, more than 120 of those killed were members of Hamas and over 25 were members of the Islamic Jihad.
In Israel, 12 people were killed — including two children and a soldier — and hundreds weree treated for injuries in rocket attacks that caused panic and sent people🦄 fleeing into shelters.
More than 4,000 rockets and other projectiles were fired🌱 at Israel during the hostilities, .
Shortly after the Egyptian-brokered truce went into effect at 2 a.m. Friday local time, Hamas claimed victory as thousands of people poured into the streets to⛄ celebrate, the Times of Israel reported.
People emerged from their homes, many shouting “Allahu Akbar!” — “God is great!” — and some firing in the air.
“This is the euphoria of victory,” senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya said in🍨 front of a crowd of thousands of Palestinians in the street, according to the news outlet.
Many also gathered in the Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis outside the🦂 home of Mohammed Deif, the shadowy commander of the Hamas military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, who had ordered the💧 rocket attacks.
Supporters waving green Hamas flags shouted,🐷 “Victory!”
Ali Barakeh, an official with Islamic J༺ihad, which fought alongside Hamas, said Israel’s cease-fire declaration amounted to a defeat for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “a victory to the Palestinian people.”
Meanwhile, the Hamas military wing warned it would unleash widespread attacks across Israel if the Jewish state did not abide by the pact.
“We had prepared a major blow, from Haifa [in northern Israel] to Ramon [airport in the southern city of Eilat] … We will closely watch the behavior of the enemy until 2 a.m. and we will hold off the enormous strike we had prepared for our enemy,” a spokesman said, the Times of🎶 Israel reported.
Ezzat El-Reshiq, a senior member of the Hamas political bureau, said: “It is true the battle ends today but Netanyahu and the whole world should know that our hands are on the trigger and we will continue to grow the capabilities of this resistance.”
El-Reshiq told Reuters that their demands included protecting the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and ending the eviction of several Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem.
Saleh Di🏅ab, a Palestinian who had bee🦩n threatened with eviction, was relieved but wary.
“This is a morning of freedom, a morning of victory,” he told Reuters, adding that he hoped now to remain in his home but feared what Israel would do next.
In Israel, relief was tempered with doubt.
“It’s good that the conflict will end, but unfortunately I don’t feel like we have much time before the next escalation,” Eiv Izyaev, a 30-year-old software engineer, said in Tel Aviv.
The violence, which erupted May 10, was triggered by Palestinians’ anger at what they saw as Israeli curbs on their rights in Jerusalem, including during police confrontations with protesters at the Al-Aqsa mosque during Ramadan.
