Confrontations in Gaza: the most lethal since 2014

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With casualties on both sides, on Monday, May 6, a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel was launched after the clashes over the weekend

After 690 Palestinian shells, of which 240 were intercepted by Israel's anti-missile Iron Dome system, according to Le Monde, and 320 military targets attacked by Israeli retaliation, according to El País, Palestinian Hamas forces confirmed the ceasefire that It got under way early Monday morning.

Leer en español: Enfrentamientos en Gaza: los más letales desde el 2014

The result: four Israelis killed, and 31 dead and 140 wounded from the Palestinian side, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza. In addition to the above, the terror and anxiety attacks provoked in the population that had to find the closest refuge every time they heard a siren, and several buildings destroyed. This has been the most lethal attack in the area since the war in 2014.

Two shots as a trigger

As The New York Times announced, the violence apparently began "The outbreak of violence appears to have begun on Friday, when a sniper wounded two Israeli soldiers, a violent but localized expression of Palestinian impatience with Israel’s failure to alleviate dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza". The government of Israel did not hesitate to react to this attack and neither did Hamas in showing its armament. As a result, all the projectile shots of the weekend happened.

However, the 'Palestinian impatience' has its origin in an agreement they had made between Hamas and Israel a while ago. As Amos Harel mentions for Haaretz newspaper, a month and a half ago Prime Minister Netanhyu that was facing a political turmoil at home and the most important thing for him was reaching a cease-fire, whether it was going to be stable or not, the Egyptians came in and began moving from side to side. Eventually (…) it was agreed that Israel would leave some of the sieges of Gaza, that Qatar will bring in more money and that Hamas in return will maintain calm around the border”.

The economic and social situation of the 2 million inhabitants of Gaza is negligible. For decades, Gaza has been a zone fought and touched by the territorial conflicts between Israel and Palestine. For this reason, it has required the support of other countries to stay afloat. Therefore, the money (USD $ 30 million) that was expected from Qatar was for "UN-sponsored projects in the field of energy (electricity and water) and labor", as El Mundo points out.

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Mediation and international opinion

On one side were the politicians who supported Israel, as is the case of Donald Trump, who wrote on his twitter:

On the other hand, the general opinion of organizations such as the UN and Egypt, the main mediator between Israel and Palestine, was to call for both parties to cease the attacks in consideration with the civilian population. For example, the UN envoy in charge of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Nickolay Mladenov, declared on Twitter that there had been enough victims and conflict has to stop.

Finally, there were also those who showed their disapproval of the actions of Israel, mainly the president of Turkey, Rayip Erdogan. Its main reason was that the Israeli missiles destroyed the building where the Turkish national news agency, Anadolu, was housed, as El País said. Although no one died inside the place, Erdogan condemned the attack as "disproportionate", so "Turkey and the Anatolia agency will continue to inform the world about Israeli terrorism and atrocities in Gaza and other parts of Palestine, despite these attacks. "

Is the conflict prevented or postponed?

After the anonymous announcement of a Hamas member, another of the Islamic Jihad and an official, the ceasefire on Monday morning 6 was confirmed, according to RFI, although no Israeli official has made any statement about it.

In this way, it is understood that they have accepted the announcement of the lifting of the restriction of all public meetings in communities in a range of 25 miles around Gaza, according to The New York Times, and by the commitment of the Israeli authorities not to shoot Real bullets during the return march of the Palestinians to the Gaza border, as RFI said.

In the face of the events of the weekend, Netanyahu declared that “Over the last two days, we struck Hamas and Islamic Jihad with great force (…) “We hit over 350 targets. We struck at terrorist leaders and operatives and we destroyed terrorist buildings. The campaign is not over, and it demands patience and sagacity. We are prepared to continue. The goal has been — and remains — ensuring quiet and security for the residents of the south”.

With this, the prime minister leaves open the field for an upcoming attack to happen, which would be unfortunate for Israel considering that its anniversary of independence and the beginning of the Eurovision show is a few days. Being the hosts of this last event, Israel hopes to increase the tourist attraction of its country.

However, the 'conciliatory' attitude that Netanyahu took was criticized by other Israeli politicians who judge his lack of firmness. For example, Gidon Saar, his main rival in the party, said on Twitter that "the gap between the rounds of violent attacks on Israel and its citizens is getting shorter, and the organizations in Gaza use the periods in between to become stronger. The campaign has not been prevented but has been postponed".

LatinAmerican Post | Juan Gabriel Bocanegra

Translated from "Enfrentamientos en Gaza: los más letales desde 2014"