Israel & Hamas announce ceasefire at Gaza after 11 days of conflict & thousands of rockets

Israeli media shortly after midnight on Friday broke news that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Security Cabinet has approved a unilateral ceasefire to halt an 11-day military operation in the Gaza Strip. Shortly after this, Hamas confirmed via a spokesperson that it too would enter into a ceasefire and truce.

The decision, aided by Egyptian mediation, came after some amount of U.S. pressure to halt the offensive but not before a blistering riposte by Israel at the UN, equating Hamas's actions to that of ISIS, calling out the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) for 'deceptive lies' and accusing a number of nations that it said had 'demonised Israel', especially Turkey, of anti-semitism disguised as anti-Zionism.

As per AP, Israel's public broadcaster Kan said the fighting was to halt immediately, while other TV channels said it would go into effect at 2 a.m. The 11 days of fighting had come after a month of religious tensions between Jews and Arabs in Jerusalem, as Hamas, which runs a quasi-democratic militant government in the Gaza Strip began firing what turned out to be an almost unending arsenal of rockets towards civilian populations in Israel. 

The communal tensions in the lead-up to the conflict had occurred mostly in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem, areas that as such belong to Palestine but are occupied by Israel, and coincided with the holy month of Ramadan and Jerusalem day which is sacred to Jews. The strife had seen one of the most significant sites in Islam, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, stormed by Israel's security forces after 'extremists' (as per Israel) began pelting stones at the police and others at the Temple Mount - a location that is of enormous significance to Judaism, Christianity and Islam and includes the Western Wall which is the holiest site where Jews are allowed to pray. The Israel Supreme Court's impending verdict on cases of eviction of Palestinian families long settled at a place called Sheikh Jarrah also contributed to the escalation.

Unending barrage of rockets fired by Hamas; most repelled by Israel's Iron Dome

Somewhere in the region of 4000 rockets have been fired from Gaza so far, most being repelled by Israel's famed Iron Dome defence system, though many did also find their mark. In response, Israel conducted systematic air-strikes on Hamas targets and alleged outposts in Gaza city, evolving a modus-operandi of warning Gaza of the precise location of its attacks in order to enable evacuations before bringing down entire buildings, including a building that housed the offices of news organisations AP and Al Jazeera for reasons Israel is yet to fully justify. Israel termed its strategy an effort to degrade the Hamas terror infrastructure, which it stated comprised a stockpile of 12,000 rockets (of which only a third have been fired) and a vast underground tunnel network.

At the global stage, Israel has come in for some amount of flak as its counter-attacks have caused the deaths of over 200 (232 is the precise estimate) Palestinians. The Israel Defence Forces and Benjamin Netanyahu's government have upheld that their war is with Hamas, and not with Palestine, parts of which like Gaza are run by Hamas. Israel has also suffered a dozen casualties, with Indian citizen Swapna Santhosh being among killed in the Hamas rocket strikes. The 12,000 rocket stockpile possessed by Hamas constitutes an existential threat to Israel, a nation that has since its founding in 1948 has become accustomed to being existentially threatened but has managed to thrive culturally, scientifically, technologically and economically, despite the hostility from virtually all around it.

US upholds Israel's right to defend itself; India stands by 2-state solution but demands end to Hamas rockets

Israel has close ties with both India and the US. India has long been a supporter of the 2-state solution and even on this occasion voiced support for the Palestinian cause, but only after first calling for an end to the rocket barrage from Gaza; whereas America's Biden administration has been careful to preface almost all its meaningful statements on the conflict with Israel's right to defend itself. Amid the acrimony of Biden's predecessor Donald Trump's reign as US President, perhaps the most notable foreign policy undertaking had been the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and the setting up of a US embassy there, and the signing of the Abraham Accords normalising ties for the first time between Israel and a number of Middle-East countries that had earlier even been enemies, such as the UAE and Bahrain.

In terms of Israel's politics, the conflict also came at a time when Israel has little under 2 weeks for Benjamin Netanyahu's Opposition to form a government after the current Prime Minister's own failure to cobble together an alliance with sufficient support. Netanyahu has been the PM of Israel for 12 years, but faces charges of corruption and has been unable to form a stable government through 4 quick-fire back-to-back elections in a 2-year timeframe, with a fifth looming if his opponents fail to do so as well by June 2, a task rendered far more complex by the fact that they require the support of an Arab-centric party - which would be first time such a party has been part of a government in Israel. The 11-day Israel-Hamas conflict has, however, ruptured the already tenuous religious situation in the country, where a number of locations including the West Bank have witnessed large-scale protests by Arabs and even the loss of life in resulting skirmishes and clampdowns.