Cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hamas after a devastating 11-day offensive is seen as victory by Hamas.
People celebrate in the streets following a ceasefire brokered by Egypt between Israel and the ruling Islamist movement Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on May 21, 2021. – A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist movement which controls the Gaza Strip, came into force early on May 21, 2021 after 11 days of deadly fighting that pounded the Palestinian enclave and forced countless Israelis to seek shelter from rockets. (Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP)
The Gaza Strip experienced another sleepless night on Friday, but this time it was not because of the intense Israeli bombardment that the besieged coastal territory was subjected to for the past 11 days.
Instead, tens of thousands poured into the streets, celebrating the ceasefire agreed by Israel and Palestinian armed groups, chanting in support of the resistance.
This is how the Arabs entered Al-Aqsa Mosque under shouts of takbeer, after the cease-fire and the victory of the resistance
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(To the muslims, getting Israel to agree to a compassionate ceasefire, is a victory.)
‘Embarrassing ceasefire’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed the offensive has dealt Hamas a “blow it cannot imagine”, going so far as to say it has “changed the equation” and set back Hamas for years.
Netanyahu said the Israeli military had destroyed Hamas’s tunnel network in Gaza, as well as many rocket factories and stores, and he claimed that more than 200 Palestinian fighters had been killed – including 25 senior figures.
However, many Israeli politicians slammed the ceasefire as a humiliating capitulation to Hamas.
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